L'Aster De La Cataire
by Vanity-Sky
Summary: Marinette is a sixteen-year-old witchling living in the mortal realm and still learning how to use her powers. On her first day of magic school in the witch's realm, all students are assigned a familiar. Not knowing what this is, she's even more confused when she's told hers is special. How special can one black cat even be? Witch AU.
1. L'Heure De Sorcellerie

AN: This is my first witch au and it's something that I've always wanted to do especially since I don't really see many witch au's floating around the MLB fandom. I got really inspired after coming back from watching Studio Ponoc's first featured film _Mary And The Witch's Flower_. (I highly recommend it especially if you're a weeb like me who simply adores Studio Ghibli/similar art styles!)

Since I'm coming close to completing my other multi-chaptered story _Tu Es Beau_ next week, I figured that I'd get started on this idea. I don't know how long it'll be yet but if you're new to my storytelling then all I can say is… buckle up, you're in for a wild ride. If you're a returning reader then you already know what's in store. Mwahaha.

Ps. For my MLB stories, I like sticking to French titles for chapters. I'm horrible at leaving translations but this story in particular is titled The Catnip's Aster (both are flowers and will be symbolic to the story)

Summary: Marinette is a sixteen-year-old witchling living in the mortal realm and still learning how to use her powers. On her first day of magic school in the witch's realm, all students are assigned a familiar. Not knowing what this is, she's even more confused when she's told hers is special. How special can one black cat even be? Witch AU.

L'Aster De La Cataire

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L'Heure De Sorcellerie

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 _It was cold._

 _Air thin._

 _Sprinkles of rain looming in the air._

 _The mist thick._

 _Nothing but woods for miles and miles._

 _The girl with the bright red rainboots stuck out like a sore thumb in the mixed palette of browns and greens._

 _Her bluish-black hair tied in disheveled pigtails._

 _Shivering pale hands enclosing on the sides of her mouth, trying to project her echoing voice further and further into the mist and fog._

"… _rien!" she shouts. Normally her lips would tingle at the fact that she finally knew his name but now nothing but worriment shrouded her every word._

 _She runs straight down the winding paths, her boots stepping on puddles causing the splash to sink deep within her black tights covered legs._

 _She ignores the discomfort as she desperately shouts, calling out the same male name._

 _Her eyes quickly blurring with the onslaught of warm tears threatening to cascade down her numbing cheeks._

" _Where are you!" she agonizingly yells, briefly pausing when her foot gets caught in a small root sticking out from an ancient tree. She loses her balance and lands on her palms and knees._

 _The mud imbeds itself onto every fiber of her cotton clothes._

 _Wiping a smudge of mud on her cheek, she sniffles as she gets up again to continue her search in the mystic woods._

 _Another sharp turn and she's found herself in the middle of a four-way crossing. The fog was so thick that she couldn't read the signs._

 _Hearing a snap coming from behind her, she instantly turns around and readies her glowing red yo-yo._

" _Who's there!" she demands as she awaits in a defensive stance._

 _A second later, she sees a broomstick hopping its way towards her._

 _She realizes once she could fully make out the foreign object that it was her broomstick! She rushed into the maze of trees in such a hurry that she left it behind. Sighing in great relief, she whistles to make it fly as she latches onto it and speeds her way through, being guided only by a faintly glowing green stone pendant._

" _Please, still be alive…" she breathlessly whispers into the pendant as she tightly clutches onto her pendant close to her heart. The warmth emanating from the small object as tiny and weak as an ember._

 _She can feel its energy pulsating with a fight left within it._

 _His pulse._

 _His aura._

 _His essence._

 _Then thoughts and memories and past conversations come flooding her mind all at once in a flurry of longing and desperation._

 _Every kiss shared._

 _Every hug given._

 _Every moment of attention._

 _Every silly banter._

 _Every shoulder to cry on._

 _The broomstick tilts to the side when she momentarily loses control as the warm tears instantly turn frigid with the wind hitting her face._

" _I just want you back!" her lips quiver as she follows the green pendant as a honing signal._

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"You better hurry, Marinette or you'll be late for your first day of school!" a woman called out from downstairs of a spiraling staircase as she held one hand on the banister and the other swirling her finger in the air to levitate a porcelain tray containing a clear glass teapot with a blooming osmanthus flower, a glass mason jar mug, and a piece of buttered lightly toasted bread on a small plate.

The woman chuckled to herself when she heard the commotion upstairs and out came a bumbling mess of limbs tumbling down the spiraling stairs.

"Oww" the young girl rubbed her head as she tried getting up.

"Marinette…" the woman tsk'd as she flicked her finger up causing the teapot to serve the girl a nice hot cup of tea.

"Thank you, Maman" Marinette took the mug and wiggled her nose to use a bit of magic to lift the buttered toast up to her mouth.

"Please do be careful and try not to choke on your bread. First impressions matter, you know" her mother reminded her as she added, "this isn't the ordinary human schools you've grown accustomed to"

Marinette nodded, having understood for a full year now.

Now that she was sixteen, her witch powers came into fruition but still young and inexperienced, she was still only just a witchling.

Marinette wasn't a normal girl. For as long as she's remembered, everything in her life was tied to magic and nature. Since all witches and warlocks didn't come into their powers until sixteen, she had been raised in the mortal realm where magic was considered an illogical sin and diabolic distortion of what's real and sane.

She grew up watching her parents use their magic in moderation and teaching her little things here and there so that she didn't wake up one day, shocked and scared with what was happening with her body.

Her parents, Tom and Sabine didn't want her to grow up being spoiled by the mystic arts and solely relying on her abilities for every little thing. So, they had decided to bring her up in the mortal realm, in the grand city of Paris where many young witches such as herself were raised amongst the humans but hiding in plain sight.

It was due to this disconnection that she felt towards others that made it difficult for her to make many friends in Paris but that soon was all about to change with her starting her first year of Lycée Françoise Dupont: Institution For Brilliant Minds And The Mystic Arts _._ It was a mouthful but finally, a school where she didn't have to hide who she truly is!

She was beyond excited and one glance at the grandfather clock staring at her from further down the hall told her that she was about to be late for school.

"Mmm!" she hummed with the toast in her mouth as she waved goodbye to her mother and quickly ran towards the grandfather clock, tugging at the old face of the clock which in reality is a secret door in disguise.

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Entering through it, she was instantly whisked away to another realm where a dirt road greeted her with nothing but woods surrounding her. She could faintly hear the chitter-chatter of others as she made her way, quickly finishing her toast as her warming tea floated next to her as it followed her.

The most she could do was move inanimate objects and make things levitate but hey, it was a start.

Marinette gasped as she reached the end of the road, in front of her was a humongous building with a iron fence surrounding it. It was hard to tell by the main building but from the pamphlets, she knew that there were at least five buildings and two dorms on campus. She would've loved to dorm at the school but she didn't have the heart to abandon her parents.

She finished her tea and placed the mug into her pink messenger bag as she walked up towards the person guarding the front entrance.

The man gave her a once-over, unsure about her aura and raised a brow as she placed her bag on the table for inspection.

"Are you carrying any magical scrolls or textbooks that are from outside the school?" he asked.

"No" she replied back.

"Any plants/herbs/flowers of the poisonous genus?"

"No?" Marinette raised a brow at the weird question, was this something she should be concerned about?

"Witch or Familiar?" he lastly asked.

"Excuse me?"

The man sighed, annoyed, "are you a witch or a familiar?"

"What's a familiar?" she questioned as the man rolled his eyes, boy did he hate first days.

"It must be your first day here. You may proceed" he ignored her and allowed her entry.

Marinette flicked her finger down making her bag close and follow her.

"Thank you, Monsieur Theo" she politely told the cranky man as she read his nametag and made her way towards the classrooms still feeling lost with the confusing structure of the place.

Nothing was going to sour her mood today.

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Marinette arrived to her first class a few minutes after the last bell rung. Having no choice but to sheepishly make her way inside, she bowed her head down in apology and found the nearest empty desk by the window in the back.

She sat right across from a girl with long wavy bright ombré hair in a hue of reddish-brown with lighter orangey hair at the tips. The girl gave her a quick glance and gave her a small smile and wave.

Marinette returned the gestured and looked away to give her full undivided attention to the teacher.

"Bonjour, my little witches and warlocks! I am Madame Bustier and I'll be your literature, poem writing, potions, gardening, and familiar 101 teacher. I know what you're all probably thinking – that's a lot of courses that I teach so you'll probably get sick and tired of my face sometime in the year. Hopefully not too soon though!" she enthusiastically said as a couple of students laughed.

"Okay so for today, we will start off with the mandatory required essentials which will be getting your familiar!" at this, half the class cheered and started whispering amongst themselves.

Marinette felt stupid for automatically raising her hand but she wasn't like the others. She grew up in the mortal realm.

"Yes, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng?" Mme. Bustier gestured with her hands for everyone to quiet down as Marinette stood up on shaky legs. Of course, the teacher would know her name.

Magic school, remember.

"What's a familiar?" she asked, gaining a couple of snickers scattered through the room.

Mme. Bustier caught this and calmly took out a long wooden wand that looked aged from her desk drawer and swished it around in an 'X' formation making the snickering students shut their traps.

"What an excellent question! Now listen up, my dears!" Mme. Bustier clapped her hands and made a hologram appear in front of her. "A familiar can either be a noble animal granted with magical abilities or a skilled witch/warlock who has committed a heinous crime and has been sentenced and punished to serve a young witchling or warlock for an indefinite amount of time but fear not, the wrong-doers are scarce and few. If anything, you'll all be granted with noble and wise purely animal familiars" she explained.

"Madame Bustier, will you be required to have the same familiar for the rest of our school years here?" the girl with the ombré colored hair stood up to ask.

Mme. Bustier smiled widely, "my, don't I have insight little dears in here! Yes, unless both parties no longer wish to work together after several trials of trying to and see that they are simply incompatible, the principal and all witnessing teachers have the power to grant you a new familiar but this rarely happens. Your familiar is not a pet, they are an aid and possibly a friend! They are your responsibility and lacking to take care of your familiar may even issue you to serve as a familiar the following school year so be warned!"

A few students gasped at the prospect of becoming someone else's 'pet.'

"Now to the fun part, you'll all continue to learn what exactly a familiar's job is as the school year goes but for now, we shall start the distribution. Each familiar is unique to your aura and reflects your inner self. Your personality is your strongest indicator. Just because your familiar is a creature you fear, loathe, or simply do not like or see its potential in, be assured that these judgements of character are never false!" Mme. Bustier finished her abridged explanation and began calling the students by row.

Marinette felt both excited and scared to essentially be responsible for a pet that would be hers alone for the remainder of her years at the school because as her teacher explained, this wasn't just a cute cuddly pet for her to play with but a partner for life.

She gulped when she watched the girl with ombré hair stand up as her row was called.

"Mlle. Césaire! Let's see what we have here, shall we?" Mme. Bustier winked in a cheery fashion as she handed the girl a small rounded white stone. The girl held the stone in her hands for a few seconds as she watched the color begin to shift.

Mme. Bustier closed her eyes for a moment as she concentrated. "Determined. Head-strong. Kind. Loyal. These are a few of many wonderful qualities I sense within you, my dear!"

The girl handed the stone that turned a glowing orange color back to Mme. Bustier as she used her wand to transform the orange stone into a pendant necklace. Handing it back to the girl, she then continued with a large navy blue steamer's trunk placed on top of the desk and dug inside of it, half of her body diving in as she wiggled around and came jumping out, carefully holding a hyper baby fox.

"Your familiar is a fox. Congratulations!"

Marinette watched in amazement as the girl came back to her seat, now holding a baby fox close to her chest as it nuzzled into her.

"It's adorable" she complimented the girl as the girl sat down.

"Thanks! I love foxes" the girl brightly smiled and stuck out her hand, "Alya Césaire"

Marinette leaned over and shook her hand back, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng. To be honest, I'm a little nervous about what my aura will say about me"

Alya smirked, "don't be, I'm sure you're a lovely person"

Marinette couldn't help but giggle a bit at the compliment. She sure hoped so, otherwise she'd be failing her humble upbringings.

"Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, it's your turn so up, up, up!"

"Wish me luck" Marinette whispered to Alya as Alya gave her a salute, sending her off to be sorted.

Marinette sat down and took the white stone into her hand. At first, she felt how cold it was until it slowly started becoming warmer and warmer in her held palm. She couldn't tell if her hands were just sweaty or if it was really the stone turning.

"Strong-willed. Humble. Creative. Passionate. These are only a few of many of your wonderful traits I sense within you, my dear!" Mme. Bustier applauded her as she watched the stone turn a bright glowing green.

"Ahh, green. Such a rare color for witches" Mme. Bustier vaguely said as she used her magic to transform the stone into a pendant necklace and then turned to look inside her trunk for the proper animal.

A few moments later, she came out holding a small black cat. Before handing it to Marinette, Mme. Bustier hummed and inspected the cat carefully.

"I-Is s-something the m-matter?" Marinette nervously asked.

She knew she was defective in some way as a mortal realm living witchling and now there was actual proof. So much for her low self-esteem not nagging her for once.

Mme. Bustier smirked and patted the sleeping black cat, "this here is a very special familiar, treat it with the utmost respect and care" she quietly told her before she raised her voice in her usual boisterous tone, "to you, a black cat is given! Congratulations!"

Marinette thanked her and gently cradled the sleeping black cat in her arms and went back to her seat.

As the last of her group received their familiars, she wondered why hers felt so… shrouded in mystery? She hadn't seen Mme. Bustier whisper anything to the other students and everyone else had exotic animals while hers… was so… traditional?

She didn't mind, really. Ever since she was a little girl, she always dreamt of owning a cat of her own but her parents wouldn't allow it in fear of the witch hunts coming back into trend in their eighty-five percent mortal ruling city of Paris.

"Now listen up my dears! Before you grow too attached to naming your familiars, let it be known that they do indeed have true names! Especially the w-familiars, those are the witches/warlocks' types. If your familiar tells you it has no name then please, feel free to name it something appropriate mind you! But in the event that you have a w-familiar, at a later given date, you selected few will have a special private lecture conducted by myself and the principal to explain a very important detail about their names! Class is dismissed for today but you may stay in here to interact with your fellow peers or go to the courtyard until your next class. I so do look forward to teaching you all and hope your school year is filled to the brim with knowledge! Ta-ta!" Mme. Bustier tapped her wand against the desk and in a puff of blue smoke, she vanished.

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"Mme. Bustier sure is something else" Alya spoke up.

Marinette smiled, agreeing, "I like her. So, are you from the witch's realm?"

Alya shook her head, "Mortal. I live in Paris, septième arrondissement near La Tour Eiffel"

"Oh! So, do I!" Marinette happily announced, "My parents own a bakery near the Notre Dame in the quatrième arrondissement but our house is near your area"

"Heeey, nice to know I'm not the only witch back in Paris! Now I have someone who can cover for me"

"Cover?" Marinette tilted her head.

"Hate to break it to ya, girl, but last time I checked, a fox isn't exactly a normal pet to own" Alya sassed her as she adjusted her glasses.

Marinette lightly patted the side of her head, "oh duh, right"

As they were talking, a male student came up to them and casually placed one hand on Alya's shoulder.

"Hey ladies, care to explore the school with me?" he asked.

Alya had switched seats right as they were dismissed and was now facing the guy's back but the feeling of him having the audacity to actually touch her made her skin crawl. She was about to tear him a new one and school him on personal space when she finally looked up and saw who it was. She squealed in delight and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck as she gave him a kiss.

"Nino!" Alya nuzzled his cheek as he laughed and embraced her.

"Sorry it took me so long to find ya, babe. It's a big school" he explained as she shook her head, forgiving him.

"I didn't think your parents would let you continue schooling here after finding out about your mortal realm living witchy girlfriend"

Nina waved it off, "nah, I mean, they're slowly coming around. It's a work in progress but what other option for schools do they even have? This one's the best"

Alya weaved her fingers with his, "damn right it is! Besides there's plenty of room for the both of us here"

Marinette felt a bit awkward and left out, having not known anyone prior to their first day. She was about to open her mouth to excuse herself and pull the lone-wolf act when Alya linked her arms with both Marinette and Nino.

"Hold on girl, there's no way you're ditching me now!" Alya playfully gave her a 'stern' look as she introduced both parties to each other.

"Nino Lahiffe, meet my new friend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a fellow mortal realm living dweller"

Nino hummed in agreement and smiled, "maybe I should move to the mortal realm if there's cute girls as you two there" he coyly said.

Alya sucker punched him in the arm as he yowled and mildly jumped up from the pain.

"Smooth talker now, eh?" Alya lovingly closed his gaped mouth and patted him on the cheek as she decided to leave him. "Come, Marinette, I'm sure we can escort ourselves in a self-guided tour just fine"

Nino rolled his eyes and followed right behind them.

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"So which familiars were you guys assigned to?" Nino casually made simple conversation as he showed the girls around the campus.

"A fox, naturally" Alya proudly held her familiar wrapped in a blanket as it tried getting closer to her chest for warmth, "it was very hyper earlier but now it's sleepy. It hasn't spoken to me yet"

Nino observed, "it's probably shy or not strong enough to speak yet. It's pretty normal, just give it some time. I wouldn't worry until maybe a month into school. I've heard but never seen it myself but it does happen. I do recommend to enjoy the silence while you can, sometimes your familiar will be a chatty little one that… won't shut up" Nino's posture slummed at the thought.

"Good, I love a good conversationalist!" Alya kissed the top of the wrapped bundle of furry joy in her arms.

"And you, Marinette? What did you get?" Nino asked when the quiet girl just took in her surroundings as they walked.

Marinette hadn't gotten the chance to fully interact with her familiar as she opened her messenger bag and saw that the black cat was still sound asleep within her books.

"A black cat" she answered, not being able to help stop the frown from showing.

Nino noticed this and couldn't help but chuckle a bit, "you know, despite it being what the humans consider normal of us – it's extremely rare for a young witch or warlock to even have a black cat as a familiar. It's not as common as you think and from the energy I sense emanating off yours it's something… special"

Marinette caught that vagueness in his tone as well, sounding almost the same as Mme. Bustier.

What was up with everyone telling her that her familiar was special? She wasn't special so why would her aura and the familiar it generated for her would be?

Marinette nodded and switched the topic, "so, Nino, how long have you been a student here?"

Nino paused his slow pace and held up three fingers, "I'm currently starting my third year. I'm eighteen and even though you're only required four years, many opt to stay until they're at least twenty-five, hence the countless dorms and why this school rocks. I'm planning to stay here for as long as I can to learn everything I can – especially in music infused magics"

Marinette was genuinely surprised, she didn't get a chance to fully read the pamphlet or notice that a student could study for that long. Part of her felt even more pumped to start learning as much as she could but the other intruding thoughts she didn't ask for were wondering if she'd need to have her familiar for that long or give it back or trade it for another.

She didn't exactly understand the familiar process and was way too shy to ask another seemingly obvious question.

"I'd love to hear all about your major some other time. I'm not entirely sure on what I want to focus my studies on just yet" she confessed as Alya came and patted her shoulder, "same! They have like a million and one options here. I can't be excepted to just pick one per year!"

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Later that day, Marinette walked right out from the grandfather clock and was back home in Paris. She made a mental note that she had forgotten to ask her new friend Nino what his familiar animal even was in her hasty attempt to divert the attention from herself and her 'special' familiar.

She didn't quite know what that meant but tried to not think too deeply on the matter.

Once she entered her home, she found a small vase filled with forget-me-nots, a plate of warm cookies and a tall glass of milk waiting for her on the island counter of the kitchen. Next to the snack was a small note floating in the air. She snapped her fingers to call the little piece of paper to her as she opened it to see that her parents were letting her know that they'd be late from the bakery that night.

She shrugged and smiled as she flicked the note into the trash can. Normally she'd transform it into an origami piece but wasn't in the mood as she took her plate of cookies and glass of milk and made her way up towards her attic bedroom.

Once she ascended the spiraling staircase, she kicked her door open and set her snack on her desk and went straight for her light pink chaise lounge. Puckering her lips, she contemplated on what she'd tell her parents for dinner later that evening.

Surely, they were aware of the familiar rule.

She knew that having a black cat wasn't the most ideal animal for a witch in the mortal realm, especially with suspicious neighbors who already thought her small family was weird enough but it's not like she could get rid of an innocent creature either.

Shaking her head, Marinette willed the pesky thoughts away as she sat down and decided to open her bag to let the sleepy little cat out.

Carefully she used both her hands to nestle the black cat into her chest as she pulled it out of her bag and placed the cat onto her chaise.

She bit her bottom lip, worried that something might have been wrong with her familiar.

Alya's little fox familiar was hyperactive and took naps and was already getting acquainted with her but for Marinette, hers has been in a deep slumber since she got it!

Sighing, she plopped down onto her creaky wooden floor and crossed her arms on top of her chaise as she rested her chin in her crossed arms and watched the black cat's steady breathing.

"Why does everyone tell me you're a special cat?" she questioned in a soft whisper.

She wanted to know what color of eyes it had.

Did it have a name already or would she need to worry about that too?

Was it hungry and what kinds of foods did it prefer?

Was it male or female?

Marinette drifted off to sleep at some point, unaware that the black cat she was caring for had moved closer to her to nuzzle its head against her crossed arms.

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Done! To be continued!

I don't really have much else to say other than Nino and Alya are an established couple.

Lots of magic goodness to come in the near future!

Also, I made their school Françoise Dupont into a Lycée/High School rather than a Collège/Middle School because they're older. (But y'know everyone does this)

Remember to R&R! Plz & Thankies! :]

I don't own Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste, all other characters and future characters used in this fic.

Miraculous Ladybug is owned by Thomas Astruc/Zagtoon/etc.

I just own this idea/plot/story/whatever you want to call it~ :p

Until next time~ ;D

Please do review! Follows and Alerts tell me that you guys are at least interested in the story but reviews really let me hear out what your feedback and personal opinions on my stories are!

If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.


	2. Qu'est-ce Qu'il Y A Dans Un Nom?

AN: Aww thank you so much for the positive reviews! I can't express enough how much reviews are the backbone of giving an author a confidence boost. Not to update faster or to gain more story traffic but more like a nice pat on the back, like, hey, there's people out there who are genuinely interested in the story you're trying to tell! It makes me happy. The follows/favs are nice too.

Again, thank you. In this digital era, I easily become a discouraged potato when I see others who are far more creative on Tumblr and AO3. This is honestly my first attempt at a more fantasy-based story so I hope that it's at least an enjoyable wild ride of FEELS.

We're one step closer in unveiling the truth about Marinette's familiar! WHOO!

Happy reading~ :D

Qu'est-ce Qu'il Y A Dans Un Nom?

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 _A soft hand._

 _A feather light caress on her face._

 _Pale pink lips puckering against her blushing cheek as they kiss her._

 _A giggle escaped her lips at his gentleness._

 _Memories from so long ago of a budding romance._

" _No… No… NOOO!" the girl with bright red rainboots wails as she abandons her broomstick and rushes towards a gasping body covered in mud on the wet forested floor._

 _His golden sun-kissed blond hair the only indicator that she had finally found him._

 _Quickly checking the glowing green pendant, she feels its pulse weakening as she shakes the pendant and rattles it in closed hands near her chest._

" _Please, please, keep him alive!" she cries into the pendant as she carefully rests his dirtied face on her lap. Her ruffled black dress becoming wetter and dirtier as she uses it to clean his cold face._

 _She leans her head and kisses his forehead with a shaky breath, "I'm… such… a… u-u-useless… witch" she sobs into him. She couldn't even manage a simple curative spell without a piece of chalk and stored up mana. She finally found him in the winding woods but she could do nothing to save him._

" _Mar-…" his voice groggy, body convulsing in tremors of chills._

" _Shh… shh… don't speak" she croaks, adjusting him to have him cradled in her arms._

" _Live… for me" his voice extremely dry, feeling as if engulfed with a thousand hellfires as he tried to speak. It was the most he could say as he became tired, so, so very tired._

 _She hastily shakes her head, the tears blinding her vision as she presses her trembling hand on the glowing purple wound on the side of his abdomen._

 _Her green pendant's glow fluttering, fighting to remain stable. In the end, she knew that if she did nothing then he would surely die. Momentarily letting go of the pressure placed on his wound, she wiped the tears away with the back of her hands and sniffled._

 _Her brows furrow, blue bell eyes narrow as her quivering lips halt. Her face contorts from sullen to determined._

 _And boy was she pissed._

 _She knows it's risky and it's technically a forbidden magic but she was desperate and would literally die for him if it meant that at least he'd survive this._

 _She didn't ask for this._

 _He sure as hell didn't ask for this nor deserve it._

 _They were like two innocent creatures caught in a spider's web._

 _Two pawns in a game of chess._

 _She braces herself as she snaps her fingers and makes her broomstick come forth. Inside the bristles of the broom, she always carried a hidden dagger within. Taking it out, she held the curved blade with the leather sheath decorated with emeralds. Removing the magical guard placed on the small dagger, with a bright fire burning in her eyes – in one quick motion, she slices her right palm, grunting at the pain._

 _Her blood starts to drip onto his face as she stops it by curling her injured hand into a small fist. In her other hand, she takes leaves surrounding his body that were drenched in his blood with small twinkles of the purple glowing substance._

 _She crumbles the leaves in her hands as she clasps her bloodied hand mixing both the leaves covered in his blood and her own. She blows into her closed hands, causing a faint orange glow to start forming of an ember. Placing the tiny ember on his wound, she hears him groan in discomfort as she closes her eyes and chants a spell that she knew would come with repercussions if she even gets out of this alive._

" _Ex nihilo nihil fit; Carpe noctem!"_

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Marinette groans as the first rays of sunlight come in from her glass stained window panes. She stretches her arms and twists her torso, feeling a pink blanket shimmy off her back.

"Huh?" she groggily moves the blanket on her chaise figuring that her mother probably came in to at least place a blanket over her. "Ahh… I can't believe I fell asleep like that!" she whines, knowing all too well already that her parents stopped placing her into her bed whenever she'd fall asleep on the floor or on her chaise or desk because then the very next morning she'd complain.

"I regret being an ungrateful brat" she sighs as she blinks a couple of times to will the sleepiness away.

As she comes to, she untangles her messy pigtails from their black hair ties creating wavy tresses. She yawns once more and realizes that her little black cat familiar was nowhere in sight. Freaking out, she gasps as she runs around trying to find it all over her room.

"Maman!" she yells as she takes the spiraling banister downstairs towards the sizzling smell of meats and eggs being cooked.

"Good morning, sweetie" Sabine greets as she sets a towering stack of waffles, hearty meats and sausages, and five sunny-side eggs on the table for her father alone.

"Maman… did you… have you…" Marinette paused, unsure of what she should say. Should she call her familiar a plush toy? A new friend's pet that she's temporarily pet-sitting?

"Honey, remember to breathe. If you're going to ask me about your familiar, I gave him a bowl of warm milk and a breakfast crepe" she tells her daughter as Marinette tries to clamp her unhinged jaw back in place.

"WHAT!" she raises her voice with wide eyes and then tried to calm down, "uhh… I mean, him? Hehehe"

She wanted to disappear into the floorboards in that very moment but hadn't memorized the spell yet.

Sabine sets her spatula down and wiped her hands on a kitchen towel, "yes, your father and I are well aware of the familiar rule. It's part of the reason why we didn't want you to grow attached to a pet when you were younger in fear that you'd reject your familiar. They're a big responsibility"

Marinette frowned, "I-I know that, of course I'd never deliberately ignore my responsibilities"

Sabine walked over to Tom as he squeezed his wife's hand, "we know, we're sorry for assuming"

She couldn't get mad at her parents even if she wanted to. In the past, she admits that she was careless with things but she's sixteen now and a full-fledged witchling. She's fully come to terms with her responsibilities and had one more question to ask.

"So… uh… where is he?" she asks while her head is still processing the fact that her familiar is male and was actually, _finally_ , awake!

"Hmm… I think he went back up to your room, you might want to check there first before heading to school" Sabine suggests as she sits down to have breakfast with her husband, "hurry now or your plate will get cold!"

Marinette nods as she zooms upstairs again to find her familiar and change into her school uniform.

Upstairs in her attic bedroom, she finds her school uniform which consists of a black plaid suspender skirt and a short sleeved ruffled white blouse placed neatly on her chaise lounge. And right next to the clothes that weren't there before was her black cat familiar soundly asleep on the tip of the chaise.

Marinette groaned, "will I ever get to meet you awake?"

She deeply sighed and got dressed, along with her uniform she put on nude tights for the chilly spring weather and her black and white patterned mary jane low heel shoes. The finishing touch was the thin grey ribbon bracelet on her left wrist to indicate her school year. The more years meant brighter colored ribbons. Grey was such a boring color but she couldn't complain much, at least it compliment her already dull uniform.

As she reached for her bag on her desk, her butterfingers completely missed causing her to knock down a picture frame and spill out the contents from within the bag. Out came her textbooks, a journal, the indestructible glass mug from yesterday, her pencil pouch, and the green pendant necklace she received from Mme. Bustier.

She bent down to clean up the mess and briefly paused to examine the pendant. It was warm in her palm and made her feel… safe? She didn't quite know how to describe the feeling but she felt the need to protect the little green stone. Unclasping the two ends, she placed it on her neck and tucked the necklace into her shirt unsure if she'd get scolded for wearing 'jewelry.'

Gently, she scooped the black cat into her arms and carried him out feeling bad that she still wasn't skilled enough for a space altering spell so that she could carry both her bags and her familiar comfortably in the same bag.

Having a quick meal, she bid her parents a hurried farewell as she found herself rushing through the grandfather clock again and waiting in line for entry into the school grounds.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Again, Marinette was greeted with the crankiness of the school guard named Theo Barbot who just looked done with the world as if some great injustice fell upon his shoulders by having to deal with hundreds of witches and warlocks every morning for who knows how many years now.

"Oh, I see you received your familiar" he simply commented.

Marinette nodded, "I did" she was curt, already knowing that if she even tried attempting a light conversation with him, he wouldn't care either way and dismiss her.

"Any magical scrolls or textbooks in your possession?" he asks with a sigh.

"No"

"How about poisonous insects or plants?"

"No"

"Clearly you're a witch. You may proceed"

Marinette nods again and takes her things inside. As soon as she entered, she was greeted with the sight of Alya and Nino in the front courtyard. Nino holding something above Alya's shorter stature as she tried jumping to snatch whatever it was that Nino had.

"Give it back you jerky boyfriend!" Alya stomped on his foot causing him to stagger.

"Ow!" he yowled as he dropped the silver shining object.

Alya used his hunched back to balance herself as she dipped to reach the little object before it fully fell to the floor.

"Uh… hey guys" Marinette awkwardly made herself known.

"What's going on?" she asked when Nino raised his hands in defeat and plopped down on the stone floor.

Alya snickered as she kissed the silver object in her hands, "oh nothing, just punishing Nino for making fun of the nametag I got for my familiar"

"Oh! Did it finally speak to you?" Marinette waited in curious anticipation as Alya energetically nodded, "he did, girl!" she squealed as she took hold of Marinette's shoulders and bounced around excitedly with her.

"Congrats!" Marinette cheered as Alya came down from her high enough to properly show her.

"It didn't take long but my little fox explained that first-time summoned familiars are usually too weak to speak or do much on the first day but after dinner, we were talking and I can proudly confirm that I won't be in charge of a bratty imprisoned warlock"

"Pure animal?"

"Yup!"

"So, he had no prior name?"

"Nope!"

"Alya, will you please release the privacy spell on that nametag and tell us _all_ what you decided to name your familiar?" Nino spoke up, placing his head on crossed arms as he laid down on a patch of green grass having used a bit of magic to cover the stone he was laying on.

Alya rolled her eyes, "sheesh so impatient"

Marinette decided to play along as she sat on a nearby stone bench, patiently awaiting the news as she placed her sleeping familiar on her lap.

Alya laughed and thanked her for her undivided attention and tapped the top corner of her glasses three times. A spark of magic scrubbed away at the censored name and within seconds a puff of orange smoke spelled it out in large letters for them to see.

"Trixx?" Nino raised a brow at the peculiar name.

"Oh, like you're one to judge" Alya sassed him.

"Touché" he grumbled, getting up from the floor and clearing the grass away with a flick of his wrist.

Before Marinette had the chance to tell Alya that she liked the name, the bell rang as everyone scurried, vanished, and levitated towards their classrooms.

"Damn those seniors" Alya narrowed her hazel eyes, watching as they were the only ones left in the courtyard.

"Someday soon" Marinette assured her as they made their way at a normal pace.

"Why aren't you in a hurry?" Alya asked Nino who was escorting them.

He shrugged, "they aren't as strict towards students with seniority"

"Must be nice" Alya commented as she walked straight into the classroom with crossed arms without looking back.

"Thank you, Nino" Marinette sheepishly thanked him with a nod and made her way inside.

Nino smirked being all too familiar with Alya's moodiness. Once he could see that she was sitting at her desk and that the teacher hadn't arrived yet, he phased through the wall of the classroom. He knew he could've just walked in and then leave once being told to but what fun would that be for him?

"Yo, Alya!" he called, gaining everyone's attention.

Alya wanted to sink into her chair and turn invisible at his next words.

"You'll be one badass witch soon enough. I love ya, babe!" he winked and with puckered lips and a held-up palm, he sent a kiss with hearts her way.

Alya blushed and sunk even further into her chair as she tried to swat away at the visible puffs of red kisses and pink hearts floating around her desk.

Nino laughed as he phased out the wall and walked away.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Seconds later, a blue puff of smoke shrouded the classroom. Instead of coughing, many students hummed at the smell of blueberries.

"Good morning, my dears!" Mme. Bustier appeared as she set her steamer's trunk on the desk and took out a full skeleton for anatomy, beakers, test tubes, microscopes, a full-on chemistry set and a spice rack out of the trunk.

"Today we shall start on potion learning!"

Mme. Bustier heard half the classroom uproar into cheers while others booed, being disappointed in not starting off with familiars again.

"Now I know my teaching style is a bit unorthodox but I do like to switch things up so that my students do not start to grow bored of the same curriculum. Now, I highly encourage that you form a group of at least two to four for potions class"

At this, Alya immediately scooted her desk towards Marinette. A few minutes later as the hype died down of trying to find partners, two girls walked towards Alya and Marinette.

One girl with a streak of purple in the bangs of her dark hair and being the taller of the two girls meekly waved. The shorter girl with blonde hair spoke up on behalf of the two, "hi, I'm Rose and this is my girlfriend Juleka! May we join you two?"

Marinette warmly greeted them, "of course"

Alya smiled back, "ditto, the more the merrier!"

Rose thanked them both as they took their seats with Juleka quietly scooting closer to Rose.

"That's a cute cat! Your familiar?" Rose asked Marinette as she took a journal and pen out of her bag.

Marinette smiled and nodded at the sleeping cat on top of her desk.

Mme. Bustier clapped her hands after giving the students a good ten minutes to choose their teams, "listen up my dears! I hope you chose wisely because these groups will be yours for the remainder of the year. Please allow yourselves an additional five minutes to decide whether or not you think you'll learn well with your chosen group and switch if you see fit. This is the only chance you'll get!"

Rose, Juleka, Marinette and Alya looked at each other in a silent questioning way as if asking if they were all alright with their decision. When the five minutes passed and no one moved seats from their group, they smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Now that that's settled, today we shall begin class with illegal plants. I should not have to repeat myself when I say that these plants are highly forbidden within school grounds and in no way, will they be tolerated nor encouraged to use. You're all old enough to be responsible for your own casting and spells. So, with that being said, we will only have one class conducted towards this specific topic. First we will go over atropa belladonna most commonly known as deadly nightshade and aconitum or the infamous wolf's bane"

A couple of students, mostly the males were howling and trying to make scary sound effects.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

After class, Marinette finished packing her things to leave and meet up with Alya who had left seconds earlier with their new friends Rose and Juleka.

The only reason Marinette opted to say behind was due to her sleeping familiar that she had to be careful in transporting. Her arms were starting to hurt with how much she's been carrying around the cat.

"Marinette, a word please" Mme. Bustier called out as she flipped through a large ancient looking spell book.

"Yes?" Marinette stood in front of the desk, nervously wondering if she had done something wrong.

It was only her second day at the school!

Mme. Bustier silently handed her a pitch black business card. Confusion colored her features as, immediately as she touched the card, she was transported to another realm.

"Wha-…" Marinette gasped as her head spun at the sudden transition. She was now standing in the middle of an emptied classroom. It looked just like the classroom she was just in but the only tell-tale sign that this was another place in time was the backwards writing and position of objects. The birds outside the windows chirped at a lower, slower octave, the clouds swayed in the opposite direction just as the waterfall in the middle of the courtyard.

Marinette's grey ribbon bracelet was now placed on her right wrist and her uniform's skirt was now white with the ruffled blouse being black.

"What's going on?" she asked no one in particular as she clutched onto her familiar who felt like the only sure thing in this reality.

"I'm sorry I scared you dear but we needed a private place to speak. Welcome to the mirror realm, a pocket in space that hides within our normal realm's time. We only use this pocket in order to speak to students who have special familiars" Mme. Bustier said, appearing in a puff of white smoke rather than her usual blue.

"Special? What's so special about me? I'm barely even a witch!" Marinette incredulously uttered. She was getting tired of being constantly told that she was special. It was one thing if her parents told her that but to have her teacher and friend say it with such a vague tone made her uneasy.

"You might want to sit down, dear" Mme. Bustier kindly offered as she walked towards the chalkboard and flicked her wand to have chalk come to life and start to write.

"Normally, Principle Damocles would be here as well to explain this but he's currently away at a warlock sabbatical in America" Mme. Bustier began, "I know you probably have several questions to ask so let's start with the obvious one, shall we?"

"Why me?"

Mme. Bustier briskly chuckled at this, "it's not I who you should be asking but yourself, your aura granted you this, I'm only in charge of distribution"

"How is my familiar special? He's been asleep all day and only briefly woke up long enough for my mother to feed him!"

"Imprisoned familiars are far weaker than normal pure animal familiars who need less time to recover especially if your w-familiar is new to being well… a familiar"

Marinette's eyes widened, "I have a w-familiar?"

Mme. Bustier beamed at her student's realization, "right so!"

"What if I don't want it?" Marinette quickly suggested as she watched Mme. Bustier frown.

"I'm sorry my dear but it's not as simple as that. Both parties must be in accordance with the agreement with one another. Witches and warlocks who are granted w-familiars are special because they hold a power within themselves that they are not yet aware of"

"But… why me? I'm just a witch who lives in the mortal realm. The mortal realm! I haven't really been exposed to magic"

"Mortal or Witch's realm matters not in these cases. A great power surging within you has determined that you have the power to awaken the imprisoned familiar. You see… not all w-familiars are bad people. In fact, most are innocent in the crimes they've been accused of. Per the school's rules, a witch or warlock who manages to release their w-familiar and turn them back into the people they once were are granted seniority at a younger year level with access to restricted knowledge but only if you manage to free your w-familiar within the first year of enrollment. No matter when, if you free your w-familiar, you will be awarded a new pure animal familiar"

Marinette couldn't believe what she was hearing.

She looked down at the sleeping black cat in her arms and back at Mme. Bustier to confirm what she was just explained.

"Oh, and another thing! W-familiar do indeed have names as they are imprisoned fellow witches/warlocks but as part of their punishment, they do not have any recollection of what their true name is. It is up to the owner to discover this very important detail in breaking the spell of their imprisonment!"

Marinette was ready to hit her head against the wall at this new piece of information.

"You are not allowed to get help from others. They may aid you in finding clues but not telling you the answer if your help figures out your w-familiar's name first before youself"

"Anything else?" Marinette deadpanned, feeling as if Mme. Bustier was about to add another thing to her already brewing headache. Just when she thought magic school was going to be fun and stress free.

"Your w-familiar in particular was a fellow student here. He should be of great help to your schooling and is one of the nicer ones. Most skilled in physical spells and was one of my top student in potion making!" Mme. Bustier tried her best to make it sound better for Marinette to ease the young witchling into this but couldn't help her slight frown, "shame that he was punished… Oh, yes! Your w-familiar is forbidden from telling you exactly how they came to be cursed. That's another thing your tasked to unlock on your own"

Marinette nearly fell out of her seat.

Just her luck, right!

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Done. To be continued!

What has Marinette gotten herself into?

Will Theo ever greet her with a smile on his lips and a skip to his step? Probably not. LOL.

Nino's familiar and Alya's familiar Trixx will make an appearance next time!

I wonder who Marinette's familiar is tho… huhuhu.

Note: the tidbit of latin at the very beginning basically means, "out of nothing, comes nothing/or nothing is made; seize the night!"

Until next time~ ;D

Please do review! Follows and Alerts tell me that you guys are at least interested in the story but reviews really let me hear out what your feedback and personal opinions on my stories are!

If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.


	3. Le Chat Se Réveille

AN: Ayyyyyyeeeee, I'm on a roll.

Happy reading~ :D

Le Chat Se Réveille

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Marinette felt like part of the undead.

Sluggishly walking towards her desk, she ignored Alya's morning greeting as she plopped down on her seat. Gently placing her _still_ sleeping cat on the windowsill knowing that he liked the warmth emanating from the glass – she then rested her forehead against the wood of her desk and loudly groaned.

Alya raised an eyebrow at her friend's peculiar behavior. She's known Marinette for a month and half and was more or less starting to understand her friend's quirks but this, this was a new one.

"Uh…" Alya opened her mouth to speak but couldn't find the proper words to say.

She watched as Marinette started to lightly bang her head against the cool desk as she began muttering to herself.

"This cat is driving me insane!" Marinette cried out as she straightened up and looked towards Alya's direction with quivering lips and misty eyes.

Alya playfully rolled her eyes as she extended her arms out to welcome Marinette into her arms.

Marinette gladly accepted the offer as she dramatically wailed into her friend, "how am I supposed to break the curse if I can't even speak with him!"

Alya nodded, silently listening to her complaint as she hugged Marinette into her chest and lightly patted her back. Since day one of the news that Marinette had conjured up a w-familiar, Alya was nothing but understanding and willing to help out in searching for clues. She loved a good challenge, figuring that her specific set of skills would be best suited for studying how to be a cyber witch.

"I have tried everything possible and humane in order to wake him up! I've tried sprinkling water on him, placing savory foods near his little nose, poking him… I even bought cat toys with bells and feathers!" Marinette was at her wit's end with this pesky familiar of hers, "oh yeah, the only thing I've learned is that he's apparently allergic to feathers" she mumbled into Alya's chest.

Alya chuckled and smirked with a glint in her eyes when she thought of a last resort suggestion for Marinette to use. She took Marinette by her shoulders to have her face to face, "have you tried catnip?"

Marinette felt dumbfounded, "why would I use that?

Now it was Alya's turn to groan, "are you even a true witch! Catnip isn't only used for herbal teas or spells, it also produces an alluring scent for cats! Just because your familiar happens to be a w-familiar, doesn't mean they aren't susceptible to these things. Ergo, try catnip and see if that'll wake the bum up, girl!"

"Huh… I… I didn't think of that. I really do suck as a witch" Marinette frowned.

Alya shook her head, "it's not your fault, I know you've been stressed out with everything's that has happened"

Marinette tightly hugged her once, "thank you, Alya! I don't know what I'd do without you"

Alya shrugged her shoulders, "probably still suffering over having _la belle au bois dormant_ as a familiar"

Marinette couldn't help but to giggle and agree. She felt incredibly grateful and fortunate to have a great as friend as Alya helping her out.

A puff of blueberry scented blue smoke wafted over the classroom as they all knew that Mme. Bustier was manifesting.

"Hello my dears! Today we will continue our potion learning with the multiple usages for mandrake root! Please be aware that while illegal to use as a poison, the mandrake root is an ancient plant used since the dawn of the witching era! Now open up your books to the section on ancient plants and roots"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

During lunch hour, Marinette, Alya, and Nino decided to eat out in the grassy fields used for broomstick class.

Alya looked longingly towards the broomstick class currently being conducted. "I wish we didn't have to wait until our second year to learn how to fly"

Nino who was laying down on the grass and playing with dandelions replied with a soft chuckle, "you're so impatient. Flying isn't all that exciting after you get the handle on things. Flying into shrubbery, the cold wind and rain, and having to keep the bristles clean all the damn time are just _some_ of my many complaints"

"Oh boo-hoo, life must be so hard for a third year warlock with seniority" Alya rolled her eyes.

Nino grinned, "can't I be the romantic for a little bit longer and offer to fly you around?"

Alya scoffed while trying to cover her blush, "don't get cute with me"

Marinette giggled at her friends never-ending flirting and bantering as she took bite sized pieces of her baguette, freshly made that morning from her Papa's bakery and tried to feed her sleeping cat. She deeply sighed as her slim fingers brushed against his mouth and tried to pry his little fangs opened.

This gained Alya's attention, "does he ever eat? He's looking slimmer than when you first got him"

Marinette's forehead creased in worry, "this is why I'm desperate to wake him up. He's only eaten since the time my mom fed him over a month ago… I… I… I've noticed my green pendant's glow wavering. Do you think the pendants indicate our familiar's well-being?"

Alya shook her head and frowned, "Mme. Bustier hasn't mentioned anything on that… have you studied up on health and food related level one spells?"

Marinette nodded, "it's the only thing keeping him from becoming malnourished… maybe I should just go talk to Mme. Bustier"

Alya agreed and offered to ditch Nino to go accompany her but Marinette reassured her that she could do it on her own as she thanked her and excused herself to head over to their classroom.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Marinette carried her sleeping cat towards the classroom. Slowly the panic was rising within as she noticed something that wasn't there before – labored breathing. In a span of ten minutes from the grassy fields to back inside the building, she watched her cat's health rapidly decline.

Her mind tried to assume that maybe he had asthma or allergies due to the feathers of the toys she had scattered around her room.

"Mme. Bustier?" Marinette called out into the empty room.

Walking towards the desk, she noticed the same pitch black business card from before and bit her lip debating on whether she should touch it or not. Maybe she was better suited in going to the school's infirmary for help instead. Surely, they'd have first aid for familiars.

Not wanting to be left with the nagging thoughts and curiosity of seeking her teacher's help first, she opted in touching the black card and getting whisked away to the mirror realm.

Everything went topsy-turvy and opposite once she arrived. Her cat meowed in discomfort as he squirmed around in her arms. Marinette tried to calm him down by petting him and that's when she felt how hot his fur felt. She kept her head on his forehead and felt as it scorched her.

Her pendant glowed a bright green on her chest as she pulled it from underneath her now black ruffled blouse. She watched the pendant erratically pulsate as she left it dangling on her neck and rushed out of the classroom.

"MME. BUSTIER! Please, are you there!" Marinette yelled through the echoing halls.

Was it her fault?

Was she a careless owner?

Did her spells to try and feed him backfire on her?

Marinette shook her head, trying to dissipate the negative thoughts away.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Mme. Bustier was in her office space in the mirror realm grading papers when she heard a desperate voice calling out to her. Intrigued by the sound, she neatly stacked up her papers, placed her red fountain pen down and walked out of the room.

"Oh my, Marinette what are you doing here?" she asked herself, a long distance away knowing that the little witchling couldn't hear her.

She watched as Marinette ran while clutching onto her meowing black cat tightly in her arms.

"Mme. Bustier! I… I… I told you I'm not special! I can't even take care of my familiar!" Marinette blubbered as she gasped for air, "please, save him!" she begged as she held out the wiggling cat towards her.

Mme. Bustier's face changed from ditzy, kind-hearted teacher to serious and grim. She took the cat in her arms and with a whistle, she called forth her broomstick. "Hop on!" she told Marinette as they flew towards a morgue.

"A m-m-morgue?" Marinette was horrified by the deathly quiet and chilling vibes of the room.

"This is the mirror realm, my dear. Our school has an infirmary but this place has a morgue. Reflecting opposites" Mme. Bustier reminded her as she placed the meowing cat on a slab of steel.

The cat paused his painful meows at the contact of cool steel on his burning body.

Mme. Bustier rubbed her hands together as she chanted something inaudible to Marinette as she watched her hands produce a green fire.

Mme. Bustier placed her hands over the cat as if scanning him. Her face contorted into multiple emotions as she hummed and tried to process all the information passing through her head.

"Ahh… this poor little dear" Mme. Bustier frowned as she looked over to a worried Marinette, "it appears that someone has been trying to prevent this little one from waking up"

"How is that even possible?" Marinette's heart sank at the news. Who would be so evil as to torture an already imprisoned warlock serving as a familiar?

Mme. Bustier knitted her brows together in concentration as Marinette watched her cat's chest rise and fall in labored painful breaths.

"Whoever is behind this must be responsible for his curse. Unfortunately, I don't know who and even if I did, it's against school rules for teachers to get involved"

Marinette nodded, fully aware of the rules, "so what's wrong with him?"

Mme. Bustier took her wand and aimed it towards the sick black cat, "One thing's for certain, he's been poisoned but we must induce the vomiting in order to find out exactly with what"

Marinette clasped her shaky hands into a prayer against the tip of her nose, "please, please, save _my_ cat" she pleaded as Mme. Bustier smirked, acknowledging that Marinette was finally starting to fully accept her familiar as her own.

With a flick and a swirl of her index finger, Mme. Bustier summoned a white ball of magic. They both watched as it entered the weakened cat as he meowed louder. Marinette was about to jump in and get her cat to carry him knowing that he liked being carried.

Mme. Bustier intervened and prevented her from touching the cat as they watched the cat cough out something that looked like dark green pine needles.

After the needles were fully out of his system, Marinette watched her black cat become docile.

Mme. Bustier's eyes widened as she gasped, "mistletoe!"

Marinette reached for her cat and carried him in her arms while soothing his back to try and comfort him.

"Treacherous leeches do not deserve the title of magic bearer!" Mme. Bustier balled her hands into fists as her floating wand aimed towards the opened furnace of the morgue and engulfed the spacious enclosed section of the furnace room into bright blue flames.

She tried to calm down as she snapped her fingers and handed Marinette a medium sized brown leather satchel, "I'm sorry you had to see my outburst, dear, but I just can't stand self-proclaimed 'righteous' witches/warlocks who stoop so low as to use forbidden poisonous plants to get their dirty work done. Here, take this satchel, in here I've included catnip as a sedative and few other herbal remedies for mistletoe poisoning. Allow your familiar some time to recover and soon enough, I guarantee you that he'll be awake and back to normal" she told the little witchling as she looked down at the poor little black cat with such sullen eyes, "he doesn't deserve this torment" she whispered, petting the cat on the top of his head and whisked both Marinette and her cat back to the witch's realm.

"I must get back to grading papers but please don't hesitate to call me for anything, my dear" Mme. Bustier's ghostly voice said as a white card fell into Marinette's hands as she stood in the empty classroom once again. She watched as blue cursive appeared on the blank white card.

 _Madame Caline Bustier; Director of literature, poem writing, potions, gardening, and familiar 101 classes. Location:_ _Lycée_ Françoise _Dupont: Institution For Brilliant Minds And The Mystic Arts._

She checked the back of the card and found a personal cell phone number scribbled down. Smiling, she placed the card in the satchel she was just handed.

"Thank you!" Marinette yelled around her, in hopes that Mme. Bustier heard her in the mirror realm.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Later that night, Marinette did as she was told by giving him catnip and the other herbs. She decided to not take her familiar to school with her the following day. She needed to allow him to rest up after having the mistletoe in his system for who knows how long.

She exhaled, letting out a ragged breath as she scooped up her sleeping cat into her arms and tried to gently pry his mouth opened to get him to drink some milk.

"I'm sorry for being mean to you… to be honest, I'm terrified of failing you" she told the sleeping cat as she smiled, watching him take in the milk.

"I… don't know how great of a witch I'll be but I promise to help you out, _Chaton_ "

She swore that she would keep her promise to him. She didn't know who was so sinister in his life to try and slowly kill him but she didn't care. Soon enough, she'll figure it out and kick their ass.

Marinette believed in Mme. Bustier's words when she told her that her little familiar wasn't bad and didn't deserve this punishment.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

 _She was dreaming._

 _Dreaming of blond hair as shimmering as the sun's rays and as smooth as beloved silk._

 _Dreaming of a touch so gentle, so surreal that she'd pinch herself to believe it to be real._

 _Dreaming of a laugh as airy as the wind and as sweet, melodious and mysterious as the winding woods._

 _Dreaming of a smile that not even a thousand diamonds could compete with._

 _Dreaming of lips a pale tan, thin and soft, encaptivating by her curiosity to have a taste._

 _Dreaming of green eyes, as green and vibrant of emeralds, apples, and trees with speckles of gold like hidden treasures awaiting to be discovered._

 _She was dreaming of a tall young man._

 _His face hard to make out but making it all the more enticing to figure out._

 _She didn't fear this nameless, faceless young man._

 _If anything, she was waiting for the day that all would be revealed even if she was impatient in her patient waiting._

Marinette could sub-consciously feel the stupid smile plastered on her lips as she hummed at the make-belief date she was in with this handsome young man. She didn't know if he was handsome as she couldn't make out his features but mere descriptions but she could feel it – his beauty that shone inside and out.

In her dreamland, she was giggling like a silly love-struck school girl but felt grossed out by the wetness dribbling down the side of her mouth. She was becoming more aware of this as she fully woke up.

Bright cat-like green eyes greeted her as she felt a pressure on her chest.

"Did you know you drool when you're sleep-talking?" the cat spoke up.

Marinette's eyes widened as she jolted and rolled off the bed with a loud thud managing to hit her head against the wooden railing of her second-floor bed. Luckily, she had a railing otherwise she'd fall straight down to her desk area.

It had been two weeks since Mme. Bustier helped her in curing her ailing cat but in all that time he remained asleep. This was the first time she's heard him speak and got caught off guard due to it.

"You're awake! You're speaking!" Marinette excitedly said, ignoring the throbbing pain of her head.

Her black cat nodded, as he looked down at his black paws, "guess it's true, I really am cursed" he murmured, mourning for his human form.

"This is… umm… a bit awkward, to be honest I've thought of multiple ways in introducing myself to you" Marinette confessed, getting up from the floor to sit on her bed.

The black cat sat with perfect posture as he stuck out a paw to her, "that's sweet, don't worry, this is weird and new to me too. I'm…" he paused as he stuck out his rough pink tongue, "I can't remember my name"

Marinette nodded, "Mme. Bustier told me this would happen"

"It's up to you to figure it out then…" he frowned, "I'm sorry for putting you in such a tedious predicament"

Marinette shook her head and raised her hands to her chest, with bent elbows and opened palms she hastily moved her hands in an 'X' motion, "no, no, it's fine! Really! We can worry about the finer details some other time, I'm just glad you're finally awake after two months of slumber"

"Two months?!"

"I'm afraid so"

"My mind's pretty fuzzy… can you please tell me what happened? W-Familiars should only take a few extra days to have the strength enough to wake and speak compared to the pure animals…"

Marinette hesitated for a moment as she snapped her fingers twice to levitate the brown leather satchel towards them. Opening the satchel, she took out a clear plastic bag in where she had stored the pine needles in, figuring that they could serve as an important clue.

"You were… unfortunately poisoned with mistletoe. I should be the one apologizing to you, I failed as your caretaker to realize you were sick until the very last straw"

The black cat placed a soft paw on her lap where the pink material of her shorts covered, he tried not to blush at the fact that she was wearing such short shorts. He couldn't remember his name and knew he couldn't use magic but one thing he did know was that he was a gentleman and a modest, humble person.

"No matter the how and the why, I appreciate it. Thank you, Marinette"

"You know my name?"

The cat chuckled, "of course, I wasn't told your name nor heard it while sleeping but it's just something… I know, if that makes sense"

"So, what should I call you while we're trying to uncover the truth to free you?"

"Hmm… how about The Great Wizard Chat Noir? Hmm… no the title of wizard or sorcerer is used for much older and wiser spell casters… then how about The Great Warlock Chat Noir? Ego aside, I am quite skilled"

Marinette giggled and shook her head, unable to take the small black cat serious, "let's just stick with Chat Noir for now, shall we?"

The black cat shrugged and shook his down-casted head, "if it can't be helped" he wearily sighed.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Done! To be continued.

Chat Noir makes his appearance!

Who could be so mean, evil, and just straight-up screwed up to torture an innocent black cat? Hmm… I wonder…

Honestly… you can thank the tv series Teen Wolf for the mistletoe poisoning idea.

I was going to include Trixx and Nino's familiar in this chapter but I guess I'll save it until another time.

Until next time~ ;D

Please do review! Follows and Alerts tell me that you guys are at least interested in the story but reviews really let me hear out what your feedback and personal opinions on my stories are!

If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.


	4. Tomber Amoureux

AN: Felt like updating with a nice lil short chapter because Mood.

Thank you all for leaving sweet reviews (I always get a kick outta reading them) and shout out to _**Tiger Priestess**_ for the suggestions! I will definitely try to incorporate the yearbook/Mme. Bustier's reaction in a later chapter.

(I'm always open to suggestions for things readers might like to see happen and if I can see it fitting somewhere then of course I'll give credit where credit's due)

Anyways, enough of my pointless ramblings.

Happy reading~

Tomber Amoureux

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 _The girl in the red rainboots and black dress shouted the forbidden spell._

 _Not caring if the toll was half her life._

 _Not caring if she'd be turned into a familiar._

 _Not caring if anything and everything were to happen to her._

 _She just wanted him back._

 _Unsure as to why this particular spell was considered forbidden in the first place._

 _She had casted it._

 _It was already too late._

 _No turning back now._

 _With quivering lips, she leaned down and pressed her lips hard against his unresponsive cold lips._

 _Her tightly shut eyes streaming with tears as she pressed her bleeding palm against his wound oozing in bright purple magic. The only sign that she hadn't completely lost him was the twitch felt in his lips with a small groan in pain._

 _She hated how his body would be scarred with a new wound; a new reminder of the monster that he isn't and never will be._

" _You wouldn't want me the way I am now and forever will be. My heart, perhaps, but definitely not my body" an echoing, distant memory recalled._

 _She remembers frowning at his words._

 _They were alone in her home. Her parents had left on a week-long trip to visit a sick relative in Grasse._

 _They had been dating for less than a year and while to some, it seemed like they were rushing into things – they knew this was it. They weren't fickle in their decisions, they knew their love was already that of a couple who's spent centuries together and with magic coursing through their veins – they knew they'd live long enough for that to be their own tale._

" _You're my everything… why would you think I wouldn't accept your body?" she asked from her chaise she was sitting on, her lust-filled eyes gazing at his standing figure._

 _He hesitated to reply, clutching at the cotton material of his red hoodie near his heart. "I'm… I'm damaged. My body's been destroyed" he had a hard time swallowing his words as he couldn't bear to face her wanting face._

 _He desperately wanted to give all of himself to her but he was struggling with his body dysphoria. Years and years of verbal abuse, physical punishments, and dissatisfaction, never being able to please one single person in his life was constantly screaming in his head repeatedly._

 _He could hear her get up, feet softly shuffling as a weight pressed itself against his back, slender arms wrapping around his torso._

 _His body jolted, an electric shock coursing through him in an instant as he felt her kiss his back. He froze for a second and then settled back into stillness as he felt her press her warm cheek against him as she contently sighed._

" _Let me… let me heal you" she whispered against his warmth, "let me kiss each and every imperfection because you deserve to be loved, Kitty" she nuzzled her cheek against his back and happily sighed, "bruises, cuts, scars, burn marks… whatever it is, I don't care because I love you, your past doesn't define who you are… they're not a burden, they're a reminder of your strength and courage. Don't ever forget that"_

 _His eyes widened at her words, green eyes as wide as saucers, tan lips agape in a small gasp. In that moment he unhooked her arms from around his frame and spun around to face her. He took her by surprise when he suddenly picked her up and crashed his lips with hers, fervently kissing her as he clumsily walked them towards an empty wall in her room._

 _She adjusted herself by weaving her fingers into his soft short blond locks, hotly moaning into his mouth as he had his hands slide down her body to help wrap her legs around him. His body anchoring her onto the wall as he tried pouring all his love for her into every needy kiss._

 _Quickly articles of clothing started to scatter around her room as he guided them towards her bed. Pausing for a second to reach the top, they continued as tangled limbs fell onto the mattress in a bounce. Fits of laughter escaping their lips as both passion and awkwardness coursed through them._

 _She clawed at his shirt, the last piece of clothing shielding him away from allowing her to feel his skin._

 _The girl whimpered into the kiss, all alone in the freezing dark woods. She was trying her hardest to tune out the first time they shared their entire selves in the most intimate and private of ways. If this spell didn't work then she'd try the next forbidden spell, right after another until she'd cast the right one._

" _How did… how did you receive this scar?" she asked him with worriment in her tone, trying to cover how horrified she was. Not at the fact that it was a hideous scar but more so the fact that someone could even allow themselves to be so cruel to her lover._

 _He slightly turned his head to reply as he felt her gently touching his back, trying to ignore the slight numb pain from the nail marks she left on him. "My father wasn't a very kind man… he had his moments of obsessive research… he put me under intensive training, trying to see the extent of my powers and abilities amongst other things… it's not a childhood I'd wish upon even my greatest enemy, if I even had one" he painfully replied, wincing when he knew that she was directly touching the outer lining of the long diagonal scar that went from his left shoulder blade to his right hipbone. His skin was a darker shade in that area with five tattoos of purple butterflies spread across his back with several tinier scars, cuts, and burn marks scattered about._

" _The butterflies?" she questioned as her slender fingers ghosted over each one._

 _His back muscles tensed and relaxed as he shrugged, "maybe a failed spell? I'm not entirely sure"_

" _They're beautiful but I can't imagine how agonizingly painful this all must have been" she lifted the blanket higher to cover her nude self as she leaned in to kiss his long scar slowly and lovingly._

 _He smiled a genuine smile as his body tingled from the love he was receiving. The back of his mind nagging him that he didn't deserve someone as amazing as her but his heart wildly beating and letting him know that he did._

 _He turned around and cupped her face in his palms, sweetly kissing her unlike moments ago when their teenage passion took control over their hormones. "Marry me" he whispered against her lips._

" _Not now but someday" he added a second later so she wouldn't immediately panic._

 _They both knew it, so early into their relationship. They were bonded forever more. He knew he wouldn't be able to find anyone who could even compete with her creativeness, kindness, passion, strength and all-around exuberance just as she knew she wouldn't find someone to match his gentle but strong, loving soul. Their fates had been sealed since day one and neither wanted to part from the other._

 _The girl straightened up as she waited to see if something would happen after chanting her spell. She watched as the mysterious purple magic oozing out of him slowly evaporated away allowing her a brief silent moment of hope fill her until…_

 _Until the purple rapidly started to turn black. She watched, petrified as his body arched and coughed black blood._

" _No… NO!" she screeched, lunging forwards, towards his convulsing body as her eyes blurred with even more hot tears. This was exactly the opposite of what was supposed to happen!_

" _I still haven't… haven't said Yes!" she wailed, remembering his proposal._

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Marinette… uhhh… try drawing your lines in parallels to each other, please" Chat Noir instructed as he watched the young witchling try and concentrate with her cheek touching the smooth pavement of her home's driveway as she laid flat on her stomach. She had tried tilting her head and bending half her body down, she tried having her butt sticking up, back arching in a snail position, she even tried going as far as using a bit of magic to cheat – which her black cat familiar highly discouraged.

"You want both sides to meet at 45-degree angles and exactly have the tips perfectly align" he patiently reminded her as he heard her groan.

"I've been at this for nearly an hour, I'm never going to get this flower pattern! Can I please take a break?" she begged, ready to snap her piece of red chalk in half in frustration. She was trying so hard to conjure up a simple bouquet of red roses but all her failed tries either gave her posies, weeds, or nothing at all.

Mme. Bustier had assigned them their chemistry and spell casting techniques homework for Mme. Mendeleiev who was currently absent attending some conference in a place Marinette wouldn't even know how to pronounce in the witch's realm.

Chat Noir tried to not sigh in disappointment but nonetheless had agreed as he calmly walked over to her beginning transmutation circle and inspected it. He frowned noticing the sloppy and uneven lines as he whished his tail on the design and erased it.

"Hey!" she complained, "I tried my hardest on this one"

He shook his head, "it's not about working hard and overthinking the pattern, it's about relaxing, taking your time and having exact precision"

Marinette face-palmed into her groan, coughing a second later as she forgot about the chalk covering her sweaty hands.

Chat Noir couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape as he shook his head, "don't worry, Marinette, I know it's not the easiest thing to do at first glance but with more practice you'll soon get it. Chalk is really more for complex spell casting but for beginner's it's what you'll mainly get used to using. It's a skill better acquired and know than need it and not know how to properly summon things. Like I said, precision – one miscalculation and your spell will either summon something half-assed or something entirely different altogether"

Marinette nodded, acknowledging his tips as she closed her eyes and deeply inhaled. Chat Noir moved behind her as she told him to step back.

A second later, she exhaled as she found a magical floating zipper in front of her. Without opening her eyes, she pulled the tab and felt as a breeze flew around them. She opened her eyes once she felt the breeze disappear with a soft pop being returned to her normal driveway.

"It worked!" she jumped once in joy.

"I knew you could do it, Marinette!" Chat Noir happily nodded as he felt himself getting picked up.

In her joy, she cradled him in her arms, spinning him around and nuzzled the top of his head with her cheek. She was incredibly overjoyed that her small pocket in space spell had worked. The first time she attempted it, she succeeded in getting herself trapped in the bubble for three hours before a frantic Chat Noir could calm her panicked crying and get her to focus on getting the exit spell correct.

He was grateful in that moment for being a black cat so she couldn't see his blush.

"Let's… let's move onto your medicinal potion homework" he suggested as he tried to will his blush away, "but first we must collect the wild licorice root" he gulped, trying to clear his throat.

"Oh, right!" she smiled.

If there was one thing she loved about being a witch was all the natural resources surrounding her. Every root, plant, herb, fruits, insects, soils, etc… whatever she needed was always at her disposal with the woods surrounding her city.

"Shall we continue to practice your speed running spell or elemental manifestation transportation spell this time?" he asked as Marinette winced at the memories of the first time he suggested that she try a spell to get her places quicker since broomstick training was out of the question until she was a second year student.

The first time she attempted the speed running spell, she ran so fast that she caught a bird's nest in her tangled hair twisted along with small twigs and leaves in her ears, nose, mouth and teeth.

The second time she attempted an elemental transformation. She got fire right away with how pissed she got at Chat's repetitive lectures that she knew deep down he was only trying to be helpful but occasionally annoyed her with and then the third time she managed to get wind with how desperately she wanted to escape his nagging to feel, 'as light as air.'

She has yet to master water and trying to be tranquil and gentle.

"Oh no, no way!" she protested right away, "we're going on my bicycle"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

It had been a full two months since her familiar fully recovered and had woken up. During that time, Chat Noir had taught Marinette more than she could ever learn on her own, being grateful for his easy to follow lectures and immense amount of patience he had for her.

She didn't always see his easy to follow lectures to be, well, easy – but she was trying her hardest and that's all that really mattered… right?

It was a Sunday night and they had recently returned back from the woods. She knew her parents weren't so keen on her returning so close to her curfew from the dark woods at nightfall but they let it slide for once knowing just how much progress she's made with her magic in a short amount of time thanks to her ever attentive familiar.

Sabine just wasn't fond of the mud trekking on her spotless wooden floors as Marinette came home looking like a mud-monster. Not wanting to hear her daughter's excuse, she told Marinette to shower right away as she used the most magic she ever had in quite some time to poof her daughter and her familiar inside the bath tub.

"Chat?" Marinette softly called as she sat at her vanity, now drying her hair with a pink towel after a long bath.

"Hm?" he hummed, licking at his wet fur. He was trying to forget how he took a bath with his eyes closed the entire time because he was no pervert and had morals.

"How old are you?" she curiously asked, setting her towel aside and took a paddle brush out of a small drawer.

Chat stopped licking at his uncomfortably cold fur being caught off guard by the question. In all his time awake, she hadn't bothered to start asking him personal questions. Not that he remembered a whole lot to begin with but he at least knew the answer to this one.

"Eighteen. If I weren't currently a cat, I'd be starting my third year" he replied.

"So, you're older than me"

"Not by a lot, M'Lady" he added.

Marinette giggled. For reasons unknown, the endearing chivalrous title did something to her. A warm tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach never failed to develop.

"Do you remember what you were focused in majoring in? Mme. Bustier said you were quite the protégé in potion making" she casually asked as she began brushing her damp hair.

Chat thought about it for a couple of seconds and then frowned, "I'm afraid I don't"

Marinette finished brushing her hair and scooped her cat into her arms making her way towards her upstairs bed.

"Don't worry, once I solve this mystery, you'll be whole again" she promised, yawning as he jumped out of her embrace to adjust himself near her head's pillows, still feeling it'd be too bold of him to sleep anywhere near her body. "I'm working on this asap!" she smiled as she reached over to lightly scratch behind his small black fuzzy ears. He always looked like a giant black puffball after bathing.

"I appreciate it" he told her as he watched the sleepiness cloud her gorgeous blue eyes. He didn't know why her promise to return him to being a human as soon as possible filled his heart with so much hope just as it crushed it at the same time, making him feel as if he was running on borrowed time to be by her side.

He couldn't help but purr and lean closer into her touch as his green eyes clouded over with delight in the gentle touch as he slowly closed them. Damn, those cat urges! But at the same time, those urges weren't so bad.

"Tomorrow, we'll meet up with Alya and Trixx and finally meet Nino's familiar at school" she reminded him of their agenda as she yawned again, "I'm so excited" she mumbled as she slowly drifted away.

Chat softly chuckled as her hand stopped petting him, "I know you are" he whispered as he moved her arm away with his head so she wouldn't wake up with a cramped shoulder in the morning.

He watched her angelic face as she fell asleep, her breathing slowly rising and falling with every relaxed breath. He just couldn't pinpoint it. Didn't know why. But he felt something… something both terrifying and wonderful that his curiosity wanted to latch onto and hold dear.

He knew his little witchling Marinette Dupain-Cheng was something special in more ways than one and for the first time, he gave her a new endearing title because he was a gentleman after all.

"Sweet dreams, Princess"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Done! To be continued.

Uh-Oh, Spaghetti-O. Someone's falling in love.

I'd say, this was a nice mix of sweetness, spice, and ANGST. (Ok, so maybe just the beginning. Huhuhu)

Until next time~ ;D

Please do review! Follows and Alerts tell me that you guys are at least interested in the story but reviews really let me hear out what your feedback and personal opinions on my stories are!

If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.


	5. Un Indice Dans La Roseraie

AN: Random tidbit – Growing up, I was never a fan of Harry Potter. If a person likes it – great, more power to ya! But for me personally? Nah, not my cup of tea. So, a lot of my influences for this story come from being a weeb. LOL. Late 90's magical school girl shojo heroines, the whimsical magic that is Studio Ghibli/Japanese animation, my love of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, whatever my trolling imagination comes up with, etc, etc.

Thanks for showing interest and the lovely reviews! Here's the longest chapter thus far.

Happy reading~ :D

Un Indice Dans La Roseraie

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 _His lips sputtered out black blood as thick as motor oil._

 _She didn't know what to do anymore as all she could manage to do was hold his body down as she watched in horror. After a couple of minutes of his body convulsing in pain, she noticed his back tattoos started to glow a faint purple._

 _Her body moved in tremors of desperation; palms lightly planted against his chest as she watched him open and close his eyes in moments of clarity and haze all at once. She didn't know what else to do, feeling lost in her need to save him._

" _Look at me, Kitty, keep your eyes focused on me!" she begged as she moved her left hand to lean over and cup his chilled cheek, turning his face towards her._

 _His green eyes turned dark, mirroring the reflection of the darkened forest of trees around them. They flickered as if understanding what she was pleading him to do. His mouth agape with his breath weak but with a frenzied pulse that she could feel with her right hand resting near his heart._

 _Her skin jolted when she felt a shaky hand trying to reach for the corner of her lips barely able to touch their frigid softness._

" _Run away!" he ordered in one steady breath he worked hard to maintain._

 _Blue eyes widened, unable to understand._

" _W-W-What?"_

 _Mustering all the strength he had left, he pulled himself up from his torso, just enough to balance himself in order to shove her away from him, feeling the ominous presence of what was about to happen next._

" _I LOVE YOU, MARINETTE!" he yelled as the black blood surrounding him spiked into a goo like substance._

 _She watched in sheer horror as he tried to fight off the black goo restraining his arms and legs as a puddle of pitch darkness manifested underneath his body._

 _In a flash, he was gone._

 _The darkness had swallowed him up._

 _Marinette took less than a second to process what just happened as she crawled in a circle around where he was just lying. Her hands roughly patted the ground as if trying to seek out some imaginary opening or left-over residue of magic that she could track._

 _She definitely knew that, that wasn't a part of her spell._

 _She knew that he would eventually find them._

 _During their haste to escape, they had gotten lost in the winding woods but they had found each other._

 _Sure, her beloved was injured and she was running on emotions alone but they had found each other and that's all that had mattered._

 _But now she was all alone yet again._

" _So, it's going to be like that, huh" she thought out loud. Getting up from the floor, she dusted off her dress and bunched up her long sleeves to crease around her elbows. She extended her right arm and summoned her broomstick to her opened hand._

 _She was only just a witchling with beginning spells in her repertoire but if she had to go kick a masterful warlock's ass then by all the deities in the witch's realm – she would._

 _Marinette was pissed._

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Ooh, you're absolutely adorable, my dear!" Mme. Bustier gushed as she lovingly petted the top of Chat Noir's head.

He couldn't help the purr that he let escape as he leaned in closer to her gentle touch with his head nuzzling the palm of her hand. Sure, he didn't particularly enjoy being a cat but he would be the best damn cat in this realm or the next! He had to remain positive that someday, Marinette would break his curse but in the meantime, he had to grow accustomed to his new strange life.

"Thank you, Mme. Bustier. I pride myself in keeping my fur nice and soft" he proudly jutted out his chest as Marinette amusedly rolled her eyes.

Chat's memories of his human self were still pretty hazy in his mind's eye but he did vaguely recall that he enjoyed Mme. Bustier's teachings. She had this natural motherly aura rolling right off her in gentle waves that always seemed to put him at ease.

Mme. Bustier did her best to hide her sadness. She wanted to help out all the w-familiars that she knew had been her student at some point in their school year. She felt attached to these young witches and warlocks, feeling as if they were her own children therefore she felt a sense of responsibility and duty towards them but it was against school rules for her to get deeply involved.

The most she could offer was indirect help even if that in itself was against the rules as well but this 'Chat Noir' in particular was one student she felt the most attached to.

"Marinette, may I have a word with you after school?" she asked, turning her attention to the teen witchling while continuing to pet her familiar.

Marinette nodded, "of course"

Mme. Bustier smiled as she pulled away and clapped her hands. It was Marinette's cue to scoop up Chat in her arms and go sit in her desk.

"Brightest of mornings to you, my dears! Today we'll be learning all about Forget-Me-Nots!"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chat Noir was usually awake and alert in all of Marinette's classes. While he knew everything that she was still learning as a first year, he didn't mind the refresher. If anything, it would aid him in helping her with her homework but at some point, he couldn't help but doze off.

Marinette made her way back into Mme. Bustier's classroom, ready to head to the mirror realm when a piece of white chalk startled her. She gripped Chat tighter to her chest as she took a moment to relax, watching as the chalk start to write a message on the board.

' _You may enter but please leave your familiar on my desk'_

Marinette quirked an eyebrow as she reread the message to make sure she hadn't missed something. Looking down, she watched Chat's steady breathing. Chewing on her bottom lip, she gently set him down on the large wooden desk and followed instructions.

"I promise, I won't take long" she whispered to him as she grabbed the black card on the desk and watched as a blur took over and everything became topsy-turvy once again.

Marinette was immediately greeted by Mme. Bustier who seemed… off. Not in a bad or alerting type of way but just a bit jittery and ready to spill on some deep dark secret.

"Hello, dear. I'm sorry for asking you to leave your familiar behind but I'd rather not have him hear us discussing what I'm about to explain"

Marinette nodded, "is something the matter?"

"Oh, heavens no!" she briskly waved her hand in the air, "Marinette, I hope you can understand just how much you and all my other students mean to me. I'm already breaking protocol with using my own powers to create a mirror realm here…"

"Wait, this realm isn't normal here?" Marinette interjected, surprised by the news.

Mme. Bustier slowly shook her head, "no, not even Principle Damocles has knowledge of this place. I created the mirror realm so that I may have a place to speak to my students privately or grade papers… of course every witch/warlock is capable of creating their own mirror realm but it takes a lot of mental power in order to keep the spell active. Any high-level spell caster would be instantly alerted that I'm altering a pocket of space if I were to use this outside of school grounds but since everyone here is still learning how to use their magic, it helps me to disguise my spell"

"Huh… okay, cool" she lamely said, still trying to process the news.

"I asked you to come because…" Mme. Bustier hesitated, pacing around the classroom as she fought the urge to spill the name rolling on the tip of her tongue. "I can't give you a name but I can offer a clue" she vaguely said.

"Why are you helping me?" Marinette cautiously asked, crossing her arms as she watched her normally ditzy but kind-hearted teacher anxiously pace around her in circles.

"Because I care about my students and in the case of your particular familiar… I want you to be able to unlock his memories as soon as possible. He isn't safe and he should know the reason why… but as long as he remains a cat living in the mortal realm… he will be for the time being" she chose her words carefully, fearing that she might accidentally give too much away.

Marinette suddenly felt a cold shiver run through her body at Mme. Bustier's words. She already believed Mme. Bustier when she was told that Chat Noir wasn't bad and how he didn't deserve this punishment but to suddenly throw in that he isn't safe while she's still trying to figure this all out?

Ouch.

"Does this have anything to do with whoever was the one to curse him?"

"I'm not at liberty to say"

"Then I'll take that as a 'yes.' Am I in danger as well?"

Mme. Bustier grimaced at the prospect, she wouldn't put it past said person whom cursed Chat Noir to get the girl involved as well. She stopped pacing, suddenly taking Marinette's hands in hers and gave her one tight squeeze.

"I don't know but I'd be prepared. Excel in your studies, learn all that you can from your familiar, and try to brush up on medicinal and self-defense spells"

If you told Marinette that she'd not only have to be a responsible pet owner to a warlock imprisoned to serve as a cat for as long as he lived unless you were able to break said curse AND tell her how she might want to prepare for a magical showdown because oh gee, her cat's potential imprisoner is still out there doing who knows what and will eventually most likely come back to claim what is his/hers – if you had told her these two very important things on her first day of school, she'd burst into laughter at her denial and the thought that she was thrusted into more than she could handle at sixteen and then when realization struck, she'd cry and curl up in a ball and wish she were anyone but herself for once.

Marinette could've been dramatic and shout an outburst of whining and complaining with a bunch of 'why me' into every sentence uttered but instead she took in this new little tidbit.

She had time to process the fact that she was granted a w-familiar.

She had time to process the fact that she genuinely wanted to help Chat Noir.

She had time to process the fact that he was an innocent young man because she couldn't detect even an inch of malice in his voice and personality.

She had time to process that she didn't know much about him but something deep within her wanted to get to know the real him.

She had time to process that she was curious in what he really looked like and what his name might be.

What she didn't have time to process was the fact that maybe they still had a threat lurking in the background. She had never considered the idea that hey maybe there's a psycho out there imprisoning other innocent young adults or one who lost sight of her Chat Noir and wanted him back to keep him trapped as a cat.

Both scenarios weren't fair.

Marinette huffed, growing annoyed with her overthinking. "Okay, noted. So, how do I speed up the process then?"

Mme. Bustier felt guilty for dumping so much on Marinette's shoulders especially with knowing that she was new to all this world of magic and being a witch-in-training but she had no choice. She needed to prepare Marinette for the worst. "A year book in the school's archives. It should be a start"

Marinette pursed her lips in thought, lightly tapping an index finger against her chin. A library would be a great place to search, "but what good will that do me if I don't even know what he looks like?"

"You have green eyes to go by!" Mme. Bustier chimed in as she heard the girl groan.

"That really doesn't narrow anything down. What if his eyes aren't really green?"

"Oh they are, trust me"

"Okay so then should I just assume that he has black hair because his cat fur is black?"

"No, he doesn't have black hair"

"See!"

"You can narrow your search down by checking for the second year class from last year. I know it's not much to go by but at least it's something"

As frustrating as this whole situation was, Mme. Bustier had a point. Chat Noir had told her that if he wasn't currently a cat then he'd be a third year student. The only third year she knew was Nino… maybe he knew something.

It was a clue! It was a start!

"Thank you, Mme. Bustier! I think I have an idea" she smiled as she wasted no time once she bid her teacher a hurried farewell.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Chat… are you sure we're heading in the right direction?" Marinette gulped, afraid of the creepy looking cobblestone alleyway that her familiar had guided her towards.

Chat extended a paw and pointed directly ahead of them, "I'm positive, Marinette. We just need to turn the corner on this winding road and go past the marketplace you'll soon enough see"

"Ooh, okay. If you say so…" she wearily replied.

Marinette was no scaredy-cat. No pun intended.

She loved the thrill of exploring new locations but in the mortal's realm. She only attended school in the witch's realm. Never straying off her same daily routine, being too terrified of what might happen to her if she got lost in the unknown.

Her parents weren't the type to scare her about what she didn't know. Never the type to instill fear into her so that she wouldn't do certain things. If anything, they highly encouraged her to enjoy every bit of her youthful teenage life because they trusted her but she herself had made the conscious decision to be careful of a place that could easily trap her if she weren't careful.

She's heard the rumors of the witch's realm.

The one that scared her the most was of a psychotic English warlock. A serial killer who went around murdering women in the Victorian Era – especially prostitutes, and while she was no prostitute (hell, she's never even kissed a boy before!) the cobblestone steps and the red brick buildings reminded her of the tales she's heard.

Luckily, she lived in France but the witch's realm had no divisions between countries like Europe did. It was only divided by star systems and even then, anyone could easily sneak up behind her if they so wished to. Of course, the Victorian Era happened long before she or her parents were even thought of but she knew that their kind could live for hundreds of years and still look young.

It was one small perk to look forward to. The only comfort she had as she made her way through the English looking architect was that while she was unfamiliar with this new territory – Chat Noir was.

"Born and bred in the witch's realm, I know this place like the back of my… err… paws" Chat reminded her as she breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that he would never intentionally go out of his way to scare her. And just as he had instructed, past the eerie looking alleyway with dim lighting and smoke from the chimneys that adorned the roofs of the narrow buildings – she found light at the end of the tunnel with the hustle and bustle of the marketplace.

"Whatever you do, don't acknowledge any of the vendors. Once you do, you'll get a swarm at your feet" Chat warned as she puffed out her chest and sharply exhaled, forcing her way through.

Marinette was no stranger to trying to find the cheapest deal and sweet talking her way to getting the price lowered if it seemed too steep but this was the witch's realm where instead of being shown silks and pretty fabrics, instead newt's eye, the hair of a griffin, and dragon's talons were thrust into her face to buy.

Marinette bit her inner cheek as she fought the urge to politely decline as she listened to Chat telling her to keep walking as they moved past the tents and busy crowds.

"That was… something else!" Marinette gasped as she looked back.

Chat chuckled, "they're good people, trying to make an honest living. Plus, that marketplace was my favorite. Everything was guaranteed to be fresh and true to their word"

"Does it have a name?"

"Hmm… nothing official but it's known as the 'the vertigo marketplace'"

"Why's it called that?"

"Because your head will start spinning, if not for the busy crowds then for all the vendors coming at you from all directions"

Marinette briskly laughed, "no kidding"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Why are you lugging around that ridiculously huge, not to mention heavy, year book?" Alya asked as she sipped her cup of hot tea.

"How else will I impress you with my big strong arms?" Nino joked as he patted the leather-bound book on the table, "it's for Marinette, she asked me to check it out from the school's archives during my free period"

"You think she'll find a clue in there?" she asked, arching a brow.

Nino shrugged, "won't hurt to try, we're just barely getting started"

" _Touché_ " she agreed, the rim of her cup touching her lips as she took another sip.

Marinette almost tripped when she entered the small café, it didn't help that as soon as she twisted the knob open, a small ding of a bell alerted all the patrons inside. Her almost-trip caused Chat to instantly react as he jumped out of her arms. Growing red in the face, Marinette sheepishly bowed her head in a silent _'I'm okay, sorry.'_

"Hey, girl! Mari, over here!" Alya stood up and loudly called across the small café, hoping to take some of her friend's embarrassment away by being loud and showy with her arms waving towards the timid girl at the entrance.

Marinette's heart melted.

She'd never not be grateful to have Alya in her life.

Making her way to her small group of friends, Chat was the first to jump onto the table and plop himself down. Marinette hopped onto a plush coral suede cushioned metal stool as her feet dangled.

"Sorry, I'm late. I got a bit lost…" she explained how she accidentally made a left turn towards another nearby alleyway that lead to the butcher's alley at first.

She shivered recalling all the different skinned animals hanging on hooks right in front of her face. Chat had accidentally dozed off during their trek that his own fur crawled when he noticed the young witchling's mistake.

Nino snickered, "ahhh… the butcher's alley… fun place"

"If you want meat induced nightmares, sure" Alya jabbed his forearm with a finger.

Nino ignored the small pulsing sensation on his arm as he opened up the large year book and scrolled towards the second year class of last year. "Anyways," he rolled his eyes, "let's focus on the task at hand. Here are all the students" he informed as he stood up and leaned towards their high-top table and blew a controlled gust of wind onto it.

Red glittery magic sprinkled itself circling the pictures of all the male students, "I've taken the liberty of circling all the male second year's that are still enrolled"

Nino apologized quickly that he couldn't narrow it down to just specifics seeing as they didn't have much to go on.

Marinette squeezed his hand in gratitude as her eyes focused kindly on her familiar, "Chat, do you think you can point out student's that you think might be yourself?"

Chat licked his tiny fangs in concentration, "I could try" he said with a faint hope laced in his tone.

He was uncertain of his own features, just that he was absolutely positive that he did indeed have green eyes.

"Geez, just how many students are there?" Alya questioned, now on her fifth cup of tea. The group had been in the small café for a good hour now.

Chat's brows furrowed, each and every face in front of him lacking to ignite something within him.

"Wait, there's a page stuck here" Marinette noticed as they reached the last couple of pages. For reasons she'll never understand, the year book organized the students' names from Z to A.

From their hour-long session of researching, Chat had managed to pull out a few green-eyed males from the bunch but he was certain that none of them were him.

Marinette's heart started to pound in the anticipation as she watched Nino carefully pry the stuck pages apart and to their utter disappointment and horror – half of the 'A' section was burned away.

"W-What?" Chat's eyes widened, pawing at the burnt edges of the page, "I should… I should've been in here" he whispered more to himself than the group as his head started to throb.

Hissing in pain, he caught a flash of green eyes and blond hair… a tall, lean male. Slight muscles visible on his young teen body, nothing overly defined. The male was wearing black jeans and shirtless, writhing in pain as his hands were tied in thick leather cuffs with chains keeping him against a freezing wall. His face was facing the right side of the stone wall as Chat groaned in pain from physically catching a small sliver of the pain the teen was enduring in his sudden vision. The last thing he saw before pulling away was that of the young warlock gripping the chains to desperately stop his shudders as someone whipped his chest, creating red and bleeding lashes on his lightly tanned sweaty skin.

"Chat? Chat!" Marinette called, shaking her cat as he snapped out of the daze.

Chat Noir blinked a couple of times to catch his bearings. The group stared at him in concern but the look to completely break his confusion was that of Marinette's. He caught the small orbs of tears forming on the corner of her beautiful blue-bell eyes.

"I'm fine… sorry, just a bit bummed. I was so sure we'd find something" he partially lied.

He'd keep the info of himself being a blond tucked away for another time, "why don't we just go enjoy the nice weather we're having and take a stroll in the rose garden in the back?" he offered, trying to change the sudden gloomy aura of his friends.

He appreciated the help, more than he could show but didn't want them to dwell on their first apparent failure at a clue.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Oh! Nino, didn't you say you'd bring your familiar?" Marinette suddenly remembered as they made their way out the backdoor of the small café and into the large rose garden.

Nino's eyes twinkled as he grinned, "of course, he and Trixx are playing in the garden"

"You leave your familiars alone?" Marinette stopped walking, the question opened to both of them.

Alya and Nino laughed and shrugged, "of course, why wouldn't we? They know we're close by and won't wander off or talk to strangers" they told her in such a casual tone that she subconsciously clutched Chat closer to her chest.

She wasn't sure if she'd ever be that nonchalant with her familiar. Sure, hers was a special case because he wasn't an animal but an actual person but still… she wasn't perfect. Marinette could call herself overly-protective and at times possessive. She'd beat herself up knowing that she accidentally left Chat somewhere unattended during a scattered-brained moment of spacing out. It didn't help that she felt even more responsible after Mme. Bustier told her to always keep her guard up.

With a quick step, Nino twirled himself around as he began walking backwards, arms held behind his back as he brightly smiled, "my dudes, I'd like to introduce Wayzz – my turtle familiar" he proudly said as they neared a small fountain in the middle of the gardens.

Marinette tilted her head in wonder, "huh… a turtle" she said as she watched the small turtle swim around lily pads in the water.

"Before you tease it's because I'm lazy or something… I received a turtle for my wise and protective and totally chill personality" he pointed to both girls.

"Just a fancier way of calling yourself lazy, Babe" Alya patted his cheek, laughing as she sat down on the fountain's edge and picked up her little fox that fell asleep while sunbathing.

Nino leaned over the fountain and scooped up Wayzz into his palms. "Pleasure to meet you all!" the little turtle familiar chirped up as he waved a stubby hand.

"He's adorable," Marinette cooed as she lightly rubbed Wayzz's head and slid her slender finger to rub his shell, "Hi, I'm Marinette and this is Chat!"

Chat bit his tongue, something about Marinette being in awe of another rubbed him the wrong way. He usually wasn't the jealous type, he was a gentleman after all.

Chat quietly nodded in acknowledgment, head still slightly hurting from earlier but mainly being in one of his rare moods of being bothered. He knew he was being somewhat rude but chose to stay in Marinette's secure arms as the group moved to the center of a field, blooming roses of all colors swaying aromatic petals their way.

Alya had brought a large pale orange blanket for the group to share along with a picnic basket. Nino had brought a small speaker for his music as he shuffled through an appropriate playlist. Marinette awkwardly apologized for not bringing anything to contribute to the group as both friends waved it off and let her know it wasn't mandatory.

"I'd never imagine that the witch's realm would have a rose garden… it seems so…" Marinette hummed, trying to find the right words to finish her thought.

"Normal?" Alya added.

Marinette nodded, "Exactly! Especially when we're so close to the moon's ski resort and spa"

If she had grown up as a regular human with no knowledge of magic and thinking of it as just a fantastical childhood myth that she'd eventually grow out of once an adult – she'd laugh in the face of anyone who told her that the moon did indeed have snow and a grand ski resort with luxurious cabin lodge camping and a hot springs, spa, and restaurants galore.

"Right, don't we have it good? I'll forever be grateful to have Nebula Burger introduced into my life" Alya dreamily sighed and she leaned in to peck her boyfriend's cheek.

"Nebula Burger?" Marinette raised a brow.

Nino puckered his lips and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'll excuse you this one time for not knowing the greatest fast food place in our little secretive realm of magic. That is literally out of this world!"

"I'm… sorry?" she questioned, unsure of how to respond.

Alya watched the interaction in amusement as she studied the quick rise of admiration and fondness that Nino held for the junk food restaurant. "Oh man, I could write love poems, sonnets, and haikus about why Nebula Burger kicks ass! I used to hang out there almost every single weekend with my buddy Adrien!" he gleefully started to explain.

Chat's head snapped towards the name, a small tug pulling him closer out of Marinette's hold as he perched himself near Nino with alerted ears.

Nino scratched behind the cat's ears as he smiled recalling a memory, "when I was a first year, I met this really shy introverted guy and we quickly became friends. While he was more into rock and metal and I was more into hip hop and r&b, we connected through our opposites. We became best buds when we found Nebula Burger one day and decided to hang out there every weekend. I…" Nino frowned, "don't know if he transferred schools this year or is just on an extended leave due to his dad's work but I miss him"

Marinette smiled, enjoying the brief memory. "He sounds like my type of guy. I love rock and metal" she giggled, "I'm a total goner when it comes to Jagged Stone"

Nino's Cheshire like grin reached his eyes as he leaned forward with crossed arms, "you do know that Jagged Stone's a warlock, right? Just that since he fell in love with a mortal, he decided to live in France while his fiancée goes through these special trials to determine she won't ever betray him and expose his secret before they can legally move here and have their marriage acknowledged"

"No way! He's a warlock!" she gasped at the news.

Nino smugly nodded, all their talk about Nebula Burger being forgotten. Chat immensely frowned at the sudden switch in topics. He couldn't pinpoint the why but he felt hopeful. He was trying to remain positive and enjoy the balance of friendship and clue hunting; he started to feel bothered again when the name Nino mentioned struck a nerve as if something deep within him rumbled and wanted to escape in a confession.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Chat Noir cursed as he frantically nuzzled Marinette's hand trying to wake her up.

"C'mon, Marinette! Don't you dare leave me now!" he yelled as he feared to leave her alone but knew he had to go signal Alya and Nino for help.

It was the first time since becoming a cat that Chat felt completely helpless. One second the group had agreed to split up as Marinette had never been to the gardens and wanted to explore. While wandering away, Marinette had kindly thanked Chat for showing her around as he surprised her with his extensive knowledge on roses and other flowers. He proudly reminded her that he was an expert in the field of potion making hence the need to always know which plants to use and those to steer clear of.

Then the next, Marinette was drawn to a royal blue colored rose nearing the entrance to the woods that had been blocked off with thick pieces of timber. She didn't know why but she was enraptured by the vibrant color as she leaned in, smelling the sweet rose.

The rose bush never touched her nor pricked her with its sharp thorns but one whiff of the rose and Marinette had suddenly become dizzy. In her daze, she blearily watched as Chat had rushed to her, screaming a "NO!" as for an instant, she could have sworn she saw the image of a young male with bright green eyes and blond hair. His handsome features twisted in fear. The last glimpse she caught was of him wearing an airy quarter sleeved white shirt and black jeans with a white light framing him as he extended his arms as if wanting to reach her before she fell to the patch of grass in front of her.

Chat rushed to her side as he examined the blue rose bush.

"Cantarella" he muttered to himself as he quickly checked her for any signs of physical symptoms. To his relief, she hadn't made contact with the deadly poisonous plant that lied in deceit as an alluring and beautiful blue rose.

Marinette looked peaceful as her chest heaved in a steady rhythm. A small smile on her tinted pink lips touched her soft features, as one arm bent on her chest and the other reaching above her head.

Chat groaned, hating not having his powers to at least conjure up a protective shield around her. As far as he knew, only their small group were wandering the gardens at the moment.

Luckily, he knew of two ways to break the spell, the first being a concoction of several different plants to form into smelling salts and the second… the second being true love's kiss. He knew he couldn't attempt the latter, not knowing if this affection he felt towards the young witchling was more than simple attraction to her kindness or something more or even if she felt remotely anything for him.

His heart would soar if anyone loved him in return, now having some sense of what his life was like with the small glimpse he caught earlier in the café but right now wasn't the time for those thoughts.

"I promise, I'll be quick!" he nuzzled her cheek as he sprinted towards the fountain where he hoped and prayed her friends would still be.

Chat felt a boulder of tension when he first didn't catch sight of Alya and Nino until he found them walking towards the fountain once again in fits of laughter and playfully swatting at each other.

"Alya! Nino! Help!" Chat breathlessly urged when the two halted their fun.

"Where's Marinette?" Alya was the first to ask as Chat jumped and spun around once to have them follow him.

"What happened?" Nino questioned as he gently rested Marinette's head on his lap.

"Cantarella. I… I… took my eyes off her for a split second… and…" Chat wanted to burst into tears for not being careful, allowing Marinette to freely wander around on her own. He wanted to punch himself for letting this happen.

"Shit, dude" Nino breathed as he began to lift Marinette up and carry her bridal style.

"What the hell is cantarella?" Alya asked through gritted teeth. She knew she had no reason to get pissed off at the cat familiar but part of her couldn't quell the fire burning bright within her so easily. She wanted to bark at the cat like a lecturing dog and blame him for her friend's sudden deep slumber spell.

"Cantarella is a tricky species of roses. Each color does something different, the effects are more severe if it's touched. Each rose contains some degree of arsenic toxin and while it's a vibrant and beautiful flower, it's also deadly poisonous" Nino tried to calmly explain as he and the group made their way towards the front.

"What color was it?" he asked Chat.

"Blue" he sullenly replied.

Nino sighed in relief, "okay, we can work with blue, just glad it wasn't black"

Alya felt out of the loop as she stomped a foot down, "care to fill me in?" she grumbled to Nino.

"Blue has the lowest level of arsenic, if Mari had touched or been cut by the rose then it'd be a problem. Chat said she only smelled it so the rose caused a mild cause of _'la belle au bois dormant'_ spell"

"How do we reverse the effect and wake her up?" Alya nodded, understanding with relief.

"I sadly can't write the ingredients down myself but I can go with you and collect everything we need for the smelling salts… that is, if you're not too mad at me" Chat cautiously offered, wincing when Alya bent down to his level.

Alya shook her head, "no, I'm not mad, accidents happen"

She offered her opened arms to him so that he could be carried as Alya had Trixx wrapped around her shoulders.

"Thank you, Alya" he said as he nestled himself in her arms. It wasn't the same feeling of comfort he had gotten used to in Marinette's arms but it'll do for now.

"We can take Marinette to my place. My parents are currently visiting family on venus" Nino tightly held onto the sleeping girl as he made his way home with her while Alya and Chat had gone in the opposite direction to a nearby botanist bizarre – an alleyway filled to the brim with nothing but plants/roots/flowers.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

In Marinette's pleasant dreams she dreamt she was wearing a white lace sundress with a sun hat adorned with a bow. Feet bare and tucked into her side as she sat in a bed of green roses while a gentle breeze swayed her hat, causing her to hold it down. She didn't question the peculiar color of the roses as she smiled with closed eyes at the kiss she was given by a taller figure dipping lower to reach her sweet lips.

His legs stood straight as he bent his torso to cup her cheeks into his warm palms, smiling himself at the tender moment.

Marinette felt like she was on cloud nine and in the witch's realm she knew that was for sure to be a real place.

The glistening sun covered his face from her view once she opened her eyes but she knew from the halo of light that he had short sun-kissed blond hair. He was wearing the same airy quarter-sleeved white shirt and black jeans that she could have sworn she saw somewhere else before.

She imagined that his eyes would intensely reflect the vibrancy of the green roses in his own green eyes if only she could confirm the color for herself. She was content in just being wrapped in a feeling of ecstasy. A feeling of love that was warm and secure and all her own.

"Please, tell me your name" she quietly begged as she looked up at him, getting on her knees to get up from the ground.

She desperately wanted to know the name of the one she dreamt so much of.

The one who stole her breath every time.

The one who showered her in love and affection.

The one who held such mystery behind his features causing her to yearn for the unknown.

She watched as an amused smile playfully played on the corners of his lips as his smile reached those eyes she couldn't clearly see.

He held both her hands into his larger hold, rubbing soothing circles on the arc of her index finger and thumb.

"It's…" he opened his mouth to finally solve the burning mystery of his name when she could no longer focus on the movement of his lips. His response inaudible to her as she watched as his form became light like clouds and vanished as a gust of wind carried him away.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Marinette! You're finally awake!" Alya clutched her shirt near her heart as she forced herself to not topple over her friend in a death grip of a hug.

Nino had just finished crushing all the ingredients that Chat had carefully instructed to mix in a specific order as the group watched the concoction turned into a crystallized piece of light blue rocks. They anxiously circled Nino's bed in where he had placed Marinette as Nino did the honors of placing the small plate with the smelling salts near Marinette's nose to get her to react to the soothing scent.

Chat nervously watched as Marinette's nose wiggled at the scent and hummed.

A moment later, she furiously blinked as blue eyes stared back at the group of friends. Sitting up, she looked around the unfamiliar room taking in her new surroundings.

"What happened?" Marinette asked, lips quivering at the evident disappointment of no longer being in the rose garden.

"Mari, are you okay?" Nino carefully asked, momentarily ignoring the fact that they'd need to fill her in.

"Yes…" she lied, "why?"

"You're crying" Alya pointed out, a small frown marring her worried features.

Marinette looked down at her shaky hands as she lightly touched the corner of her eyes, feeling the tips of her fingers become wet. A second later, she hid her face as her palms rubbed against her eyes and began to cry more. "Haha… I'm just glad that I'm no longer having a nightmare" she lied again as her shoulders slumped and curled her knees into herself. Her body trembled from the overwhelming emotions that washed over her.

She was crying because she wanted to get back to her sweet dream land where the mystery boy resided in. It wasn't a nightmare realm; the only nightmare she felt was of waking up right before getting to learn his name.

"Marinette… I'm so sorry," Chat called out, a great distance away from the group of friends. He was terrified of rejection and of Marinette hating him for not being fast enough to warn her that not all roses were safe to approach. "I was careless in the gardens…" he finished apologizing in tremendous guilt of his own irresponsible actions.

Chat Noir wanted to beat himself into a pulp, knowing that his own self-inflicted pain and hatred would be a hundred times more bearable than the torture he received as a young warlock. He was having a hard time pulling himself out of his gloom.

Marinette still felt a bit delirious as blurry eyes could have sworn they saw the ghost of a boy sitting on his knees with his back slumped as his palms firmly rested on the wood flooring, the crown of blond hair on top of his head the only visible thing she could make out from the crestfallen figure.

"I… uhh…" Marinette lost her way with words, only concentrating on how her delirium aligned perfectly with where Chat was sitting on the floor.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Done! To be continued.

Oh snap, who could this trolling mystery boy be? Oh, I do wonder…

Cantarella is a legit fabled poison and a Vocaloid song. [If you're a weeb like me.]

Originally, I was planning on including/introducing Chloe or Lila as problematic characters but in the end I'm glad that I didn't because I really like the outcome of this chapter without them in it. Maybe in the future I'll include one or the other, maybe both in different ways. Who knows!

Huhuhu… if anyone even reads these end notes: Can anyone guess who the Victorian Era warlock was? I'm honestly amused by that piece that I wrote.

Until next time~ ;D

Please do review! Follows and Alerts tell me that you guys are at least interested in the story but reviews really let me hear out what your feedback and personal opinions on my stories are!

If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.


	6. Chouquettes Du Cœur

AN: Not a super long chapter but I wanted to update soon.

Here, have some angst and some fluff. Thank you for the continued support and interest in my lil fic o'mine! :)

Warning: mild dark themes ahead.

Happy reading~

Chouquettes Du Cœur

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chat was having an unpleasant dream.

His breathing labored.

Little nose twitching in discomfort.

Closed eyes tightly screwed shut.

Soft hissing with bared fangs contouring his troubled features.

" _How could you!"_

" _How could you!"_

" _HOW COULD YOU!"_

 _A shirtless boy no older than thirteen wailed, a noise of chains clattering with every shuddered movement. His tear stained faced looked at the man standing in front of him. The man emotionless as the boy verbally lashed out on him, desperately wanting to escape the leather cuffs bound around his small thin wrists._

 _The boy so badly desired to punch the man in front of him._

" _She was… she was your wife… MY MOTHER!" the boy's voice hoarse as violent shakes quaked through him. "She was… everything to me and you just… you just…" his reddened eyes stung, blond eyelashes sticking to his cheeks. He shook his head, unable to finish his sentence as his body slid down the wall._

 _Now on his knees, he grasped the chains above him that were suspending his arms in mid-air. The white of his knuckles visible as flicks of torn skin and blood smeared on his fingers marred his fair skin._

 _The man calmly walked up to the distraught boy and with brute strength, he clutched the boy's full cheeks causing him to forcefully look up; clear as day that he was only just a kid with still boyish features on his face. The boy glared at the man as he tried not to wince from pain of having his jaw almost broken by one hand alone. The hold caused the boy's already chapped lips to ooze out fresh blood._

" _She served her purpose. Now it's your turn to do the same" the man viciously informed the blond boy as he roughly let go of him, ignoring the spit of blood mixed with saliva that the boy proudly spat on the man's cheek._

" _You're no father! You're a monster!" the boy yelled, cheeks now freed, despite the fear he held for the man in front of him._

 _Taking a handkerchief out of his purple suit's breast pocket, the man calmly wiped away the blood on his cheek and with the cane he walked with – he shoved it against the boy's already bruised ribs as he harshly gasped in pain, choking on blood._

" _Such insolent behavior" the man snapped his fingers to inform someone else in the room of their needed attention while the only noise filling the room were of the clattering chains and the pained gasps of the boy as his frail chest heaved._

" _It's time for you to learn your place, you disobedient filthy son" he told the blond and then directed his orders to the other person in the room, "you may begin"_

 _The blond looked in horror around his surroundings, watching as the man left the cold laboratory but the other person in the room readied a whip for him, curling the leather around a fisted grip. The boy let out a small hiccup as the never-ending tears cascaded down his innocent face._

 _He cried not for the fact that it was his turn to be punished but for the limp figure of a woman lying with her long blonde hair covering her face in front of him, a hand left extended trying to reach for him._

 _A pool of blood surrounding the woman as the blood didn't quite reach where he was chained to the wall._

" _Maman…" he cried harder._

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chat felt melancholic.

Not only for the sudden memory spurred in a nightmarish dream but for the immense guilt he felt over not being able to protect his little witchling. It had been about a week now since the incident in the rose garden and ever since then, he avoided Marinette at all costs.

He was never in her room when she was in there, opting to spend his time hiding away in other parts of the home or tagging along whenever her parents went to work at their bakery a few neighborhoods down.

The only tell-tale sign that alerted Marinette that he hadn't ran away was from the warmth she felt on the top of her pillows every evening and every morning and left traces of food from his food bowl in the kitchen.

He was there, just never when she was awake or studying her magic with failed spells trying to be practiced. Her failed attempts would normally have her in fits of laughter with Chat as he'd shake his head and patiently go over the lessons again. Lately, she found herself more frustrated at her failure rather than amusement with the lack of positive encouragement for her to try again.

Chat awoke that day in a jolting start. He pawed at his eyes to see his fur wet from the tears. He knew without a doubt that the memory was from the first time he had been punished. His eyes wincing at recalling the memory of the continuous whipping at his back, creating a deep wound that he knew was perfectly sealed onto his back now.

He hated to picture how much more of his body was horribly disfigured and the desire to have Marinette never see that side of him once she broke the curse placed upon him.

To his relief, Marinette had been long gone from the bedroom when he finally gotten up from the now cold sheets messily fixed on her bed.

He jumped off the bed and climbed down the steps, making his way to the front. He slightly smiled at the young girl's considerate actions as she left the door ajar enough for him to nudge open without much force on his part.

Cautiously he traveled down the spiraling staircase and with a perked-up nose, his senses directed him towards the sweet wafting smells coming from the kitchen. He figured that Marinette had probably gone off in search of herbs in the nearby woods without him as one of her current potion homework was on medicinal cures, particularly a universal one for minor ailments.

Chat was no fool. He knew very well what he was doing just as Marinette knew the same. It only added on to his already massively, every-growing cloud of gloom that he felt. If he couldn't save Marinette during the smallest of accidents then how useful would he actually be when it was something far worse and life threatening? Magic or no magic, he was having a hard time getting out of his rut.

To his utter surprise, he didn't find Tom or Sabine in the kitchen but instead his little witchling.

His heart fluttered whenever he thought of her as _his_ because if, from what his small hazy memories were telling him – he's never had anyone to love or to be loved from in return in the most innocent of ways.

Marinette's kindness was the only viable thing he could grasp and pray to dearly hold onto.

Chat wanted to call out to her and make his presence known but he still felt like he had no right to casually talk to her because he knew the moment he'd open his mouth, all that would come out was an endless amount of apologies spilling out.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Marinette's shoulders briefly tensed at the feeling of no longer being alone in the kitchen. A gentle smile danced on her lips as she hummed a song that Nino had recently showed her and went about her baking as if she hadn't just realized that Chat had quietly propped himself on the island counter behind her.

She continued to twirl around the kitchen, getting things done in silence. It felt awkward but only due to the fact that she didn't know what to say in order to coax her familiar to start speaking to her again because she knew he wouldn't budge.

Marinette rolled the pastries in her hands and set one tray aside to finish later, then she dipped another batch in chocolate and sprinkled powdered sugar on one half and pearl sugar on the other half to complete them, leaving them aside to settle. Lastly, she took out the first tray she had made, without saying a word – she placed three small round balls in front of Chat on a cake plate.

She placed her elbows on the countertop, supporting her head on her opened palms and leaned her body in, back arched as one foot supported her weight with the other crossed behind it.

Chat blinked incredulously at the offered treat.

"I've…" she began, trying to find proper words, "I've never blamed you, not once" she quietly told him, referring to what occurred during their time at the rose garden now that she was fully aware as she eyed the offered pastries and back at him, "I'm clumsy, Chat. I get easily swayed by my emotions and it's not your fault that an evil weed seduced me with it's beauty" she softly chuckled at her comment, "please don't beat yourself over it, if it weren't for your expertise in plants then I'd truly be a sleeping popsicle for all eternity"

Chat still didn't say a word.

Couldn't say a word.

After a few tense minutes of deafening silence, Marinette clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and let out a loud groan. She crossed her arms instead and placed her head on top as she muttered, "Kitty, please talk to me"

Chat's heart nearly stopped.

"W-W-What d-d-did you say?" he quickly asked, in a not-so-gentlemanly manner at the sudden endearing nickname.

Marinette's cheeks tinged in a blush of pink, "Kitty, please talk to me" she repeated herself, finally looking up.

"I hate the fact that we aren't communicating… I miss you. We're supposed to be friends, right?" she huffed, pushing her body to straighten up. She was feeling embarrassed by her confession. Maybe she was overreacting, it had only been a week after all.

"Yes, I suppose we are" his heart deflated at the thought of just being friends with her but who was he kidding – he's a _cat._ No right-minded girl would fall romantically in love with a common house pet. Not until he was just as human as she and even then, he wasn't entirely sure if his conflicting feelings of wanting to love and to be loved in return would be reciprocated by her.

If by going with the clues he has of his physical features – he wasn't bad looking. In fact, he could be categorized as being handsome, but, if going by his hazy memories of being tortured as a form of punishment from a young age then surely no one would ever want him for his distorted body rather than his heart and who he truly is on the inside.

Marinette picked up a chocolate covered ball and held it up for him, "I made you chocolate chouquettes"

"Why chouquettes?" he tilted his head in confusion.

"You… were sleep talking about being happy to receive them" she said as she nervously waited for him to paw at the offered pastry unsure whether he'd like them or not as her baking wasn't on par to her parents. She was going on instinct alone from what she heard one night in his sleepy mumbles.

He could've joked and tell her how she was being daring by giving a pet chocolate of all things but he knew it would be uncalled for. He wasn't a real cat therefore the laws of a balanced diet didn't apply to him despite the growing fondness towards milk and fish.

He sometimes feared that he'd lose himself as time went on and succumb even more to feline tendencies.

Chat rolled the pastry his way and took a small bite. Immediately his tastes buds were tingling from the sensation of the deep rich chocolate and the warm puffiness from the treat.

He closed his green cat-like eyes, savoring the moment as his memories drifted him to a time when his mother had been baking in their mansion's kitchen. She was an angelic woman who told the kitchen staff to take lunch off to go play in the grounds of the grandiose home with her lonely son so she may have the kitchen all to herself. He could recall the smile that reached her eyes, reflecting all the love she held for him. His childlike innocence of wanting his mother to participate in his make-belief games that the staff had been more than happy to expand upon.

The way his mother would politely decline as she'd shoo him out of the kitchen with powdered sugar lightly dusting his cheeks from when her sugar-coated hands had kissed his forehead. It was only then that the boy caught a mischievous glint in his eyes and tugged on the hem of her baby blue dress and asked her for powdered sugar. Quickly catching onto what the boy was planning on doing – she allowed her son to pat on the sugar onto her rosy cheeks as she calmly poured another bowl with sugar and then ran around with him as they splashed and coated the kitchen in the confectionary powder. Once they were done, she caught her young son in her arms and peppered kisses all throughout his face as fits of giggles took a hold of him.

Chat opened his eyes with tears pearling up in the corners, "my mother made me chouquettes one time" he raggedly breathed, trying to control his emotions, "she… she was sickly, not always having the strength for even the most mundane of tasks… but that one time, she stubbornly wanted to bake and insisted that she was healthy enough to do so" he told her as the memory started to become clearer in his head.

"Chat… I didn't mean…" her eyes filled with worry, unable to finish the sentence. She didn't mean to stir up any memories that might have caused him any sadness. It was the first time that she was hearing something so personal from his life.

Chat shook his head, "it's not your fault, I'm glad that I'm starting to remember snippets of my former life"

" _Your_ life" she clarified, "the life that you'll have once I stop sucking so much at magic" she promised him.

Chat clamped up, not having the courage to tell her that he no longer desired that life for himself. No one sane would ever want to live the life of solitude and extreme torment as his. Sure, he wanted to have hands again instead of fluffy paws and everything else that would make it clear to her that he was a _man_ but he was also starting to fear a life without her in it. A life where they couldn't be as close as they had grown in a short amount of time. A life where he was no longer welcomed to be involved in her own.

He winced at his own negativity, wishing that he hadn't learned how self-deprecating he could be because he was never taught to love himself and know or even treasure his own self-worth.

He was taught at a young age that he was expendable.

Chat finished the chouquette with a quiet cry, finally letting the tears freely fall.

Marinette thought she had accidentally triggered him from her promise to break the curse, not realizing that Chat's misery came from the hard memories that he couldn't bring himself to share with her.

"Thank you, Marinette. I love chouquettes" Chat sniffled, pawing at his eyes trying to cover up the fact that he was pathetic. He truly did love the pastry she poured her heart and efforts into making for him.

It made him happy just as it shattered his heart all at once.

Marinette was just a friend.

An incredibly selfless and kind-hearted friend.

A bright eyed witchling with the most beautiful smile he's ever had the pleasure of seeing.

But she was just a friend.

And he was having a difficult time seeing if she truly saw the young man behind all the black fur.

His breath hitched when she leaned over to scratch behind his sullen ears and placed a light kiss against his furry head.

"I'm glad we're friends again, Kitty"

And the confession continued to crush him.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Mme. Bustier!" a flustered Marinette called out loudly in the echoing empty classroom of the mirror realm where she knew she'd have the privacy to ask her very embarrassing question.

The sudden manifestation of an unannounced Marinette in the opposite designed classroom caused Mme. Bustier to throw all her graded papers up in the air having not heard the girl at first upon arrival. She quickly clapped her hands causing the flying papers to freeze in time as Marinette heavily panted.

She ignored the fact that she had startled her teacher as she placed both hands on the wooden desk and blurted out her urgent question.

"Is it possible to fall in love with your familiar?" she asked with a heated red face.

Mme. Bustier raised a brow, "What?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Done! To be continued.

Bless Season 2 for giving us such precious information as Adrien favoring chouquettes. Honestly, the boy likes sweets but can never seem to fully enjoy them. FEED HIM.

Huhuhu, all I can say for now is that the last part takes place quite some time after Marinette gets Chat to stop avoiding her.

Thank you to those who take the time to read my silly ramblings in my end notes. Hopefully I can make the next chapter much longer.

Until next time~ ;D

Please do review! Follows and Alerts tell me that you guys are at least interested in the story but reviews really let me hear out what your feedback and personal opinions on my stories are!

If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.


	7. Déni, Aveu, Et Révélation

AN: See this? This super fast update is as rare as that Super Blue Blood Moon we just had recently in January. I was itching to write after my last chapter so as promised – a slightly longer chapter. I usually aim for a decent amount – around 2/3k per chapter but in those rare moments when I manage more than 5k, it's honestly a personal accomplishment.

Thank you for the positive reviews! I probably sound like a broken record by now with how much it means to me that this story is getting some love. Lately, it's been easier and easier to feel discouraged when other authors/stories are far more popular in the fandom. Eh, I don't do it for the recognition. FanFiction isn't a High School popularity contest. I love the craft as a hobby and if others stumble upon and enjoy my works along the way then hey, that's good enough for me.

Notice: I don't know if I'll be able to update anytime soon as I'll be busy mid-late March but I'll try my best to and if not, I only ask for patience. And as always, if there's anything in particular a reader would like to see happen - I'm all ears to suggestions!

So enough of my ramblings.

Happy reading~ :)

Déni, Aveu, Et Révélation

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Marinette wanted to fling herself into the sun.

Surely there was some type of amusement park or something she could run away to on the red planet.

Mme. Mendeleiev droned on and on about quantum mechanics having recently returned from whatever conference she had been attending someplace else in the witch's realm. None of it made sense to her but Chat took a particular fascination with the teacher's lecturing especially with the current topic of Schrödinger's Cat theory.

Marinette personally didn't care whether the cat was alive or not.

"Seeing as how I've clearly bored Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, you're all excused, except for you Marinette – you get the pleasure of clapping the erasers clean" Mme. Mendeleiev announced with a smirk and a hand placed on her hip.

Snickers passed by Marinette's desk as she sneered at the students, having made no efforts to befriend anyone new. Maybe she's been hanging around Chat for far too long. She'd bare her fangs too but kept civil as some students had the audacity to even pat her shoulder as they all filed out.

Alya was the last to greet Marinette with a somber smile, "I guess I'll just see you after school" she told the annoyed witchling as she agreed.

Marinette quickly found herself greatly disliking Mme. Mendeleiev. Not even when she had attended school on earth in the mortal's realm was she ever called out and humiliated. It wasn't a big deal in her eyes, it's not like she was texting or passing notes during class!

"Cheer up, Marinette. The day's going to get better, I promise" Chat quietly chirped as he watched Marinette clean the chalkboard and start clapping the erasers.

"You're only saying that to make me feel better, Kitty" she groaned, nose crinkling at all the dust forming in the air.

Chat shook his head, "no, I mean it"

She coughed as she swatted away at the dust now covering her uniform and loose hair – she was starting to regret having her hair down. "Whatever you say"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

As Chat had told her, her day did in fact get better.

"Are you a mind reader?" she lowered her head to whisper to the black cat in her arms.

Chat chuckled, "no?"

"I'm suspicious"

"Would it help my case if I told you I was Mme. Bustier's favorite?"

Marinette clucked her tongue to the roof of her mouth in thought, "Maybe. Speaking of, have you remembered anything new?"

Chat hummed in thought, the noise almost as melodic as his rare purrs, "Nothing of importance, just that I was the top of my second year class"

He still refused to let her in on the memories of his abuse inflicted by his father. Even if he was the safest by her side, he still couldn't help but feel… off. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but the point still stood – he'd continue to be stubborn until something useful came out from the memories that brought him immense pain.

Marinette stopped walking in the courtyard, "Chat what are you talking about! That's precious information!" she extended her arms, turning his position to look at the cat directly.

He quirked a brow, still not catching on to what she meant, "I'm not following?"

"If you were a top student then we can narrow our search down even more!" she twirled him around as he loudly meowed, not being a fan of the sudden twirls.

"Let's go find Nino to tell him!" her determination burned brightly as she rushed to the third year's section of the school.

Chat firmly placed his paws on her arms, trying to stop her as one would by pressing their foot on a brake, "but what about class!"

"Later! This is far more important!" she laughed, sprinting onwards.

Chat caught a cold gust of wind as they made a sharp turn left and then right and then right again and left once again until they finally climbed five levels of stairs and crossed a floating bridge that slowly took them to the connecting building until they finally found themselves amongst students clad in third year attire.

It was the same as hers – the only difference was the color of bracelets and that all third and higher-level students all had black unisex duffle jackets. Some decorated theirs with patches to symbolize won tournaments and other such accomplishments.

The male uniform consisted of a quarter sleeved white shirt neatly tucked in, black jeans, and black brogue shoes.

"I'm starting to think Nino has more privilege than he tells Alya" she thought out loud as she's never seen Nino formally dressed. He wore the jeans and the shoes but never the jacket and much less the shirt – always preferring to wear different colored shirts instead, although she mainly saw him in oranges, blues, and reds.

Chat's head was spinning from all their traveling, "you could ask him if he's a top student as well?" he suggested as he tried to stop his vision of tuna swimming around his head.

Marinette nodded as she went around and politely asked for assistance. Most were rude but in any school setting, it wasn't uncommon for the first year's to be looked down upon simply because they were the fresh meat of the institution.

A loud boisterous pink haired girl gladly helped Marinette out as she guided the younger girl through the dim halls that were only illuminated by candlelight. She had apologized on behalf of her third year class, letting her know that not all of them were unhelpful jerks. The pink haired girl led her into an opened classroom that to Marinette's relief had natural sunlight coming out of it.

"Yo, Specks! Ya got a visitor!" she called out as Nino turned his head and took off his large headphones.

"Oh, hey Marinette!" he greeted as Marinette thanked the girl.

"Name's Alix!" she greeted with a wink and quick pat to Chat's head and snapped her fingers to summon rollerblades to her feet as she left.

"What brings you into the wolf's den?" Nino asked as he offered Marinette a seat next to him.

"Is it okay to speak with you? I'm not intruding, am I?" she cautiously asked before settling down on the offered chair.

Nino shook his head, "nah, Damocles teaches this course but he's still on his sabbatical so… no teacher, no class" he calmly said with an amused smile, "it's a pretty sweet deal, so now tell me, my innocent young lamb – what brings you here to venture into the big scary third year's den?"

Marinette snorted, rolling her eyes, "you guys aren't scary, just taller"

"Hmph, you got me there" he laughed.

Chat settled on top of the desk as he cleared his throat, "I said something earlier that Marinette thinks might be crucial to narrowing our sear–"

"OH, MY POOR ADRIKINS!" a dramatic blonde entered the room as Chat was speaking. Her voice drowning out everyone else's discussions in the classroom. "His father took him on a meditation trip to the pluto zen gardens! He might even miss the entire year with his extracurricular activities!" she cried as her mascara smeared. "I wanted to see how much hotter he got over the summer!" she blubbered as a shorter girl by her side gave her a tissue from a square tissue box she was holding.

The blonde sat at a desk in the front and loudly blew into the tissue. The red head with her gently trying to soothe her as the blonde smacked away her hands. "Not now, Sabrina! Can't you see that I'm miserable!"

Chat's ears twitched at the nickname used. He wasn't entirely sure why it sounded familiar to him but he couldn't help but make a face at the name. It was a terrible nickname.

The girl known as Sabrina deeply sighed and kept her distance from the crying blonde.

"If you want to actually be of any use to me then tell that stupid cat to stop staring at my face. Daddy forgot to buy me waterproof mascara, okay!" she sniffled into a clean tissue and pointed towards Marinette and Nino.

"Uhh… Nino… can you please… like leave?" Sabrina weakly asked as she walked towards the pair.

Marinette eyes widened, holding a hand up, gesturing for Nino to keep quiet as she calmly stood up. "Is there a problem here?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sabrina blinked, "well… yes… Chloe is distressed and I need… uhh… I need your cat to stop staring at her"

Marinette glanced over to Chat and then back to the girl with thick rimmed brown glasses, "If you have a problem with my familiar then you have a problem with me"

"Marinette, I don't think that's a good idea, let's just lea–" Nino was cut off as he stood up.

"No, Nino! Who does this Chloe think she is? This is an opened classroom for _all_ and Chat is doing _no_ harm" she told him as Sabrina nervously played with the hem of her skirt.

"I wasn't purposely staring, I'm sorry if I offended your friend" Chat tried to explain to diffuse the situation. He wouldn't take offense to being called a stupid cat but something about the blonde's bossy personality stuck out to him.

"Ugh, I can't even enjoy my wallowing when that mangy stray is still staring!" Chloe stood up and with heels clicking with every strut, she pressed a hard manicured nail on Marinette's chest, shoving her a step back.

"What did you call my familiar, you rude bitch?" Marinette stabbed her index finger on the blonde's shoulder, causing her to take a step back herself.

Their height difference was evident in that moment.

"I should have my familiar _sting_ you" Chloe threatened, towering over the younger witchling.

Nino was internally panicking, trying to lightly pull Marinette by her wrist to bring her back to her sense before she fired back at the angered blonde who he knew no one ever had the balls of going against.

Chat's vision blurred as a sudden memory came to him. His head started to throb as he remembered a feisty blonde little girl who looked at him in utter disgust. They were clearly friends but unlike him, who wasn't afraid to get dirty, she absolutely detested ruining her clothes. They had been playing out in the woods nearby his mansion's grounds. They knew they weren't allowed to explore that area but as kids who liked to dare each other – they didn't care. He could distinctly remember the usage of a nickname. It was terrible and he hated it to the core but he didn't really mind because he was a lonely child. He only had this young female for a friend. He could recall that he was drenched in mud looking like a mud monster from a swamp. The girl dramatically cried as she ran away from him as he giggled and chased after her, wanting to give her a big hug.

Chat Noir snapped out of it as he did the first thing that came to mind.

He didn't want Marinette to get into a physical fight with the temperamental blonde girl.

So, naturally, he bit Chloe's hand.

Chloe yowled and smacked the cat away with her own claws as the group tried to process what just happened.

Chat hissed in pain as Nino hastily scooped him in his arms and tugged Marinette out of the room.

"She hit him! She hit him!" Marinette was furious, "Nino, let me go back in and punch the ever living shit out of her!"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down _Majestia_ " Nino held a firm hold on her torso so she wouldn't run back to the classroom, "Justice will be served, I promise you but not by your doing. Let Alya handle it" he urged as his friend was currently seeing red. He had to admit, it both pleased him to see the backbone side of Marinette but also reminded him to never cross her hell raising path.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Marinette blamed herself.

She was no push-over. If someone was going to talk badly about her, let alone her friends – she wasn't going to let it slide and pretend like it didn't happen. She didn't know and didn't care who this Chloe is. In her eyes, she was just a self-entitled witch's realm living socialite.

In the mortal's realm, if someone rubbed you the wrong way, you'd get your ass kicked.

She didn't know the rules or etiquettes of the witch's realm and currently didn't care if she crossed the line.

"Marinette… it's not your fault" Chat flinched as she used a cotton swab dabbed in rubbing alcohol on his lightly bleeding upper lip and snout.

"Yes, it is. I'm not only clumsy but impulsive, Chat. Whenever someone rubs me the wrong way, I just lose it" she grimaced, placing the cotton on a napkin as she watched her cat who was laying on her desk.

She had cancelled her plans to meet up with Alya after school, originally intending to finally check out the ever-popular Nebula Burger. Nino desperately begged Marinette to calm down as he told her that they could discuss whatever it is that she had first gone to his classroom to talk about at a later date with Alya in tow. She felt disappointed on her changed plans but not nearly as disappointed as she felt in herself for allowing her emotions to stir over someone who wasn't worth her time nor energy.

"If you're at fault then so am I. I _was_ staring at her… I _think_ we were friends" Chat explained his thoughts as he felt her warm breath fanning against his face to soothe the buzzing sting of the alcohol.

Marinette made a face of discomfort.

She couldn't see how someone like Chat could ever be friends with someone like Chloe.

It was an odd, mismatched pair.

"I know what you're thinking. How, right? I was an only child with a… with a _strict_ father and a sickly mother. That didn't give me much options for friendship. I think Chloe was a neighbor or family friend… I can clearly remember being a playful but mischievous child while she was always prim and proper"

Marinette brushed past the description of Chloe and focused on him instead.

"I guess some things never change" a smile curled on her lips as she lightly petted his head. She was remembering the first time she showed him the small garden they had in the backyard of the house. It was filled with common cooking herbs and a couple of vegetables. She giggled at the first time Chat saw a cucumber. He completely freaked out and tried clawing at the green vegetable, stating that it was a docile snake waiting for a chance to attack him.

Other times came to mind such as the first time she tried to give him a bath and he had accidentally gotten into her baby powder. His entire face was streaked in white powder as he coughed at the dust and then he stepped into a small tub of body glitter, not helping his cause at all.

She giggled at the memory of when her dad had brought a full fish home from the market and Chat's cat senses took a hold of him, tempted to poke the fish when the fish flopped, still fighting to live and scaring him out of his skin as he meowed and fell to the floor.

Marinette stopped petting her familiar as her body was taken over in fits of giggles, her entire frame vibrating in amusement as she remembered the time she learned to never leave any cups on the edge of a table as Chat couldn't control himself and swatted the cups away. Luckily, she was drinking water on those occasions and the cups were plastic. Her mom got annoyed, lecturing them both as Chat profusely apologized for his sudden urges.

She bit her lips with a delighted grin as she remembered the only time that she had messed with him. It was during the time that she was learning about elements and Chat had given her the ridiculous task of filling balloons with air. She got fed up with what, at the time, she saw as a pointless lecture. She already wanted to move onto the flashier spells. So, in her moody state, she grabbed a handful of the mini balloons she had blown and rubbed them against the living room's carpet and pressed them against an unsuspecting Chat Noir who jolted from the frizzy static and ran around trying to dislodge the stuck balloons from his fur. In the end, he got mad and ignored her to try and hide the fact that he looked like a black puff ball.

She grabbed onto her sides as her body rocked from the silly memories as one that stuck out to her was one time that she had been drinking milk and Chat had somehow gotten into a box filled with twine that they use in the bakery for boxed orders. She laughed so hard that milk had spilled out of her nose as Chat had a completely guilty look on his face from being caught.

"What's so funny?" his curiosity was piqued as he watched the teen come down from her high of giggles.

"You, Kitty" she bopped his little nose.

She gave him a bright fond smile as she scratched underneath his chin causing him to purr. She knew he wasn't a real cat but his feline tendencies were adorable. Marinette lost count of how many first's she's shared with her familiar.

Chat's heart hammered against his ribcage.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

That night, Marinette had a pleasant dream.

 _In her dreams, she was wearing the same white sundress. Now instead of in the gardens, she was on a large white and gold framed bed. Her hands lightly grazing over the baby hairs and skin from the nape of the mysterious male's neck._

 _He smiled at her as if he cherished her the most in the entire universe. Lips ghosting her own as he smirked and didn't dare to move to close the gap between them._

 _A sheer green sheet covered the both of them as they shared a moment while lying on the bed._

" _You tease" she giggled as her fingers moved upwards to run through his soft wild sun-kissed hair._

 _He chuckled in a velvety voice. Not too deep but not too light either. It was just right._

" _You're the tease" he clarified, green eyes boring into her very soul._

 _Her heart ached for him._

 _She longed to meet him outside of her dreams._

" _Please, tell me your name" she whispered, searching his eyes for an answer._

 _The male supported his weight on top of her with his palms pressed against the mattress on either side of her head as he leaned in to give her a chaste cloud-like kiss on partial lips, kissing most of her cheek. The tip of his nose traveled the side of her face as her breath hitched. He stopped when he reached her right ear._

" _You already know it" his voice faded._

 _She was left with draping green sheets falling gracefully on her face as her hands were left empty._

Marinette awoke with tears in her eyes. It was always the same routine. She'd be the happiest she's ever felt with her cheeks hurting from how much she was smiling and how warm her face felt from the feelings that were mutual between her and the male. And then she'd watch him disappear from her reach just to feel alone once she abruptly wakes up. She'd either take a moment to compose herself or freely cry if she couldn't help the overwhelming emotions that took a hold of her.

She's dreamt up multiple scenarios with the mysterious male. It was always light and innocent – never crossing a boundary. She was hormonal yes, but not in the sexual manner.

Marinette blinked her eyes a couple of times to stop the tears that threaten to escape. She wiped at the corner of her eyes with the back of her pink camisole and looked around her dim room. The first rays of morning light were still too far in the horizon to fully peer inside the stained glass window of her bedroom.

She found Chat purring by her side having slid down at some point in the early morning from the high end of her pillow. Gently scooping him up in her arms, she felt him move around and settle further in her arms. She let a soft coo escape her lips. With a feather light touch she touched his snout and traveled up the curve of his little black nose towards his forehead as she caressed his warm fur gaining a loud purr in return.

It was a rare moment when she didn't find him in troubled sleep.

"What do you dream about, Kitty?" she whispered to herself.

She wanted to know more about him just as much as she wanted to know more about the male in her dreams.

She wanted to know what he had meant about already knowing his name just as much as she wanted to discover her familiar's.

Was it wrong of her to feel completely torn between the two?

One was a dear friend.

The other… the other could be more.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Okay, time to see what's so special about this place" Marinette said as she walked into the fast food place. Chat opted to sit in her leather emerald green hobo purse, feeling guilty that he relied too much on her to carry him everywhere.

"You should order the number five" he blurted out, unsure where that even came from.

Marinette found an empty booth table and slid to the middle, deciding to wait on Alya and Nino before ordering anything.

"Chat… that's a triple Nebula burger topped with everything but the kitchen sink, a side of two pounds of fries, a large drink and a cosmic triple chocolate slice of cake. I can't possibly eat all that by myself" she read the menu as Chat nodded understanding that a petite girl like herself would need help with that.

"I think that was my usual" he licked his lips, "I think this used to be my getaway from times I needed a breather from being cooped up at home"

Marinette giggled, "how in the world did you keep it down?"

He shrugged, "growing boy, the growing pains were a killer" he tried to reply coolly, having recently come across a memory of when he was just a kid that woke up one night screaming for his mother because his body felt engulfed in fire from him entering the first stages of puberty.

"So, you're super-duper tall then?"

"I definitely will tower over you a bit, yes"

"I'm assuming you were a bit on the pudgy side then? Which mind you, there's nothing wrong with that"

Chat shook his head, a playful smirk on his lips "oh no, I had a killer bod" he exaggerated. No teenage male ever looked like an Adonis chiseled out of marble. He was lean, tall, and had slight ridges of muscles. The ones he worked hard for in order to endure his father's lashes and other punishments.

Marinette nearly choked on air, a rosy blush appearing on her cheeks. She rarely found herself wondering what he looked like physically. She only knew that he definitely has green eyes.

"I'm sure you were quite popular amongst the second year females then" she teased even if part of her felt bothered by the thought.

"Oh yes, they desired me so" he pressed on, trying to egg on her reaction.

"What a _tomcat_ " she rolled her eyes, blowing a breath upwards to her bangs at his comment.

"Oh no, I'm a gentleman through and through. Besides, due to my _strict_ father, I'm one-hundred percent sure I've always been terribly _single_ so I suck at flirting and all that"

Marinette nodded in acknowledgement, keeping herself from spouting out another teasing remark.

His last comment caught her off guard.

"Killer bod, green eyes, above average height, and blond hair. I was quite the packaged deal"

Her eyes widened.

"Hey girl!" Alya greeted as she and Nino entered holding hands, sliding into the booth that she had settled herself first in.

"Ready for some grub?" Nino excitedly rubbed his hands together.

Marinette's eyes scanned her curious familiar and her groups friendly faces as she silently nodded. Her purpose of wanting to meet up with them all but forgotten in that very moment.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Marinette just screwed up.

Severely screwed up.

She screwed up and had no idea how to fix it.

She didn't need to remind anyone that she's still only a teenager.

Sixteen years old.

She was bound to make mistakes.

Her screw up began the morning that she awoke from a weird dream in where she found herself overlooking a glass case with her mysterious male sleeping upon the inside. She tilted her head in confusion as her lithe fingers touched the cold glass causing it to vanish in a flurry of bubbles.

She tried shaking the male and getting him to wake up until she caught a peculiar glimpse of a black cat sleeping right next to him. Ignoring the cat for now, she continued to shake the male's shoulders, wishing more than ever to know his name.

Marinette wasn't raised on fairytales like most children were. While her parents told her their version of witch related fables in order to ease her into the magical side of their family's secret – she was clueless on what to do when faced with a fairytale predicament.

She tried pinching the male.

Gently slapping his face.

Peeling his eyelids open.

Blowing into his ear.

Tickling his sides.

Splashing water on him.

She tried all the innocent things she could come up with until one thought occurred to her.

What if she tried kissing him?

There was no harm in trying as she did so and was rewarded by the sight of fluttering green cat-like eyes.

Well that was new.

Left with the impression that she needed to seek out some sort of fairytale love spell. The young witchling ventured off to the witch's realm public archives. Anytime she tried asking for directions by calling it a _library_ , she'd get weird stares.

She already felt like an outsider, no reason to make it blatantly _obvious_.

On her journey she had left Chat behind as he was in a deep slumber for once. She knew that he was no longer in danger from falling deeply asleep due to poison so she let the cat have a free day as she braved the new unknown world alone.

Finally reaching the archives, she politely asked for assistance as a red headed male named Nathanaël had shyly helped her to find the spell book that she wanted.

"Thank you for your help, Nathanaël! You're a life saver" Marinette gave him a handshake and a toothy smile.

The shy male rubbed the back of his neck, "of course, we're classmates"

"Oh? I'm sorry I don't recognize you" she sheepishly apologized.

Nathanaël shook his head in good spirits, "it's quite alright, I don't go out of my way to really be visible in class anyway" he said before leaving her to do her own thing.

Marinette forgot to ask him in which class exactly were they in together but took it upon herself as a personal little game to spot him out.

She read book after book, spending hours in the archives from morning until late evening. Finally, all her efforts paid off when her blue bell eyes fell upon a white mage tome. Scrolling through the spells, she found something that resembled a fairytale love spell.

"THAT'S IT!" she happily exclaimed, earing odd stares and older spellcaster's shushing her.

"Sorry…" she shyly whispered, knowing she wouldn't be heard.

Quickly snapping a picture of the spell, she shut the heavy tome and made her way back home.

Coming out of the clock just in time of her curfew, she greeted her parents who had stayed up longer than usual to test out some new recipes in the kitchen.

She waved at them and flew to her room, feeling giddy to share the news with her familiar.

"Someone's in a good mood" Chat smirked as he greeted her on the chaise.

"I am! I spent practically the entire day in the witch's realm. Well more like the archives but still"

"Why didn't you invite me? I could've showed you a shortcut" he dramatically frowned, pawing away a book he had been reading before she energetically barged in.

Marinette shook her head, "sorry, Kitty, I knew I could manage without you and didn't want to disturb your snoozing"

Chat chuckled, "all is forgiven"

Marinette took her phone out of her short's pocket and fiddled with the device in her hands, "Chat…"

He looked up at her with curious green eyes, "yes?"

"Do you believe in fairytales?"

He hesitated to answer. His life pre-cat was a living nightmare which didn't leave him with much hope for such childish wishes. "Not really?" he replied honestly.

She appreciated his honestly as she took a seat next to him. "Will you at least hear me out? This might sound stupid"

"I highly doubt that but I'm all ears"

She took a deep breath, "I had a weird dream in where there was a guy sleeping in a glass case and I was so lost in how to wake him up until I suddenly realized I had to kiss him… so…" she paused, cheeks growing warm with how embarrassing this seemed, "I spent the day researching on kiss related white magic. Anything that could help me break the spell on you"

Chat Noir nodded his head as he had heard her every word with a quickening pulse, "so, you want to kiss me?" he slowly asked.

"Well yes but there's a catch"

"That being?"

"True love's kiss… if only I could _pretend_ then perhaps we'll have a chance? I figured that it wouldn't hurt to try" she reasoned.

Chat could hear the shattering noise of his own heart breaking into a million pieces at her suggesting that she could only _pretend_ to love him. Of course, who was he kidding all along? He was taught at a young age that he was expendable. Expendable objects weren't capable of true worth nor love.

His ears drooped as he avoided her awaiting gaze.

She was gorgeous and innocent and ever selfless, trying her very best just for his sake but the truth was hidden there in the silence.

She didn't love him back. At least not in the way he hoped to be.

"No, absolutely not" he spoke up, trying not to grit his teeth, "you'll only be cheating yourself by using a cheap spell"

"But Chat, what if–"

"But nothing!" he raised his voice, taking her by surprise, "you don't get it, Marinette, do you? I'm _not_ your house pet nor _just_ your familiar. I'm cursed, yes, but beneath all this black fur – I'm a _man_ " he raised a paw to his chest, "If you cut me, I bleed. If you break my bones, I feel pain. If you toy with me, I cry" he allowed himself to grit his teeth, fangs bared as he tried to keep the hot tears at bay. "Words alone can't express just how much your efforts to free me mean to me but you just don't get it Marinette"

Marinette tried to search his face for an answer, anything that would help her understand how she had upset him. "I don't… I don't understand so please… please explain it to me"

"I can't pretend to _not_ love you… that'll _only_ kill me inside" he confessed, "I can't just pretend like I don't feel anything towards you. Maybe I'm stupid and naïve and easy to latch onto any form of affection that comes my way but… but _please_ , don't tell me to _pretend_ , Marinette, because I _can't_ " he shook his head as the tears fell.

Her breath hitched, "y-y-you lov-love m-me?"

"I do, more than I've ever loved anyone before" he tried to steady his breathing, "I know you probably won't believe me as a _cat_ but I'll remind you again once I'm myself again" he promised as his sadden eyes searched hers.

What she found behind those heartbroken eyes was the soul of a longing man. A man seeking to treasure her and already cherished her as if she held the entire world in her palms. The look was frightening as she couldn't comprehend how someone would hold her of all people in such high regards.

"Just forget about that spell, okay? Thank you for trying to search for something but I refuse to try it. And…" he down-casted his head to avoid her eyes, "forget my pathetic confession. I can't force you to love me nor beg of you to someday. Just forget I even said anything, let's just put all our energy into finding another method. I promise you that my feelings aren't hurt" he barely could form a smile as he jumped off the chaise.

"I need some air" he announced as he walked out of the room, leaving Marinette to wallow in her own thoughts.

That night, Chat didn't return to the bedroom. She got scared that he decided to run away until she was comforted by the sight of him sleeping with a troubled expression in the living room's couch.

The streaks of wet fur near his eyes the tell-tale signs of his forlorn woes.

This was her fault.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Marinette had a restless night.

Tossing and turning in her sleep.

Sheets sprawled all over, barely covering her body and mostly hitting the floor beneath.

She couldn't find her way back to her pleasant dreams.

 _In her dreams she was now wearing a torn white sundress, violently swaying and glued against her body like a second skin. Her body tried to brace itself to push against the harsh gust of cold wind. The rain prickled her pale skin like needles as she tried to shield her eyes in order to see through the storm._

 _She found herself nearing an abandoned mansion, destroyed by the weather. The roof was gone in chunks, the walls barely holding anything together, and a male figure hunched over in what was once a grand living room._

 _There was a large wide window with torn red curtains flapping in the wind, a chimney with broken bricks and pitch-black dust swirling about the air, a brown leather couch with all its stuffing spilling out laid on the floor split in two, these were the only indication of which room the male was in._

 _At first, she couldn't see that the male was her mystery guy as his hair had turned black._

 _A dead black cat laid near his side as he rocked himself back and forth on a tarnished green rug, hands tightly clutching onto his hair as he mumbled to himself._

" _She doesn't love me…"_

" _She doesn't love me…"_

" _She doesn't love me…"_

 _He violently shook his head, nails scratching his scalp._

" _Who will?"_

" _Who will?"_

" _Who will?"_

 _He continued to chant the same two verses as his teeth chattered, rocking himself against the harsh conditions, his skin turning a chilling blue from the cold._

" _We need to get out of here!" she coughed as debris swirled around them. She wished she knew his name so she could aid him, snap him out of his daze, get him to follow her to safety – anything!_

 _He ignored her as he continued to rock himself, switching his chant._

" _No love"_

" _No love"_

" _No love"_

 _He croaked._

" _Expendable"_

" _Expendable"_

" _Expendable"_

 _Marinette stared in horror as the wind began to pick up the lifeless cat._

" _No!" she yelled, jumping to reach for it as she tightly held onto the black cat in her arms but along the way she sacrificed her own safety and started to get swept up herself._

 _She was scared beyond belief but realization struck her in that moment._

 _The cat in her arms had turned blond._

" _He's… he's… he's the cat!" she gasped as her vision of the male rocking himself in a pit of darkness vanished as she went up, up, up into the air._

Marinette loudly gasped herself awake as she frantically patted around her bed.

Still no sign of Chat.

Graceful as she could ever be in the mornings, she jumped off the bed and dashed like a mad woman to her living room. She wanted to wake him up and twirl him around in her arms, she wanted to kiss his little head and apologize to him for being so dense, she wanted to shout it out to the world that she felt the same way but one look at his wet fur near his eyes and she stopped herself.

She was clumsy and impulsive, easily swayed by her emotions and had a habit of acting without thinking at times. No, he didn't deserve that.

She needed to properly apologize and show him that she loved him too.

She had been in denial, stupidly falling for a nameless ghost that resided within her dreams.

He had been there all along.

He wasn't a ghost.

Nameless, sure, but she was determined to soon fix that.

He had told her once before in her pleasant dreams that she already knows his name.

So, what is it?

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Done! To be continued.

Still no curse breaking/reveal but we're slowly getting there!

Can I just say how amusing Schrödinger's Cat theory is? At least the basic principle of it. Huhuhu, I feel like such a troll.

I honestly had thought of multiple ways to go about Chat's confession but in the end, I like how it turned out. I totally listened to _Was It Dream_ by _30 Seconds To Mars_ on repeat during the last dream Marinette has during her restless night.

Uhh… I think that's all I have to say for now.

Until next time~ ;D

Please do review! Follows and Alerts tell me that you guys are at least interested in the story but reviews really let me hear out what your feedback and personal opinions on my stories are!

If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.


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